Infrastructures for Peace at the grassroots:

investigating the Commissions for Inter-

Community Relations in North Macedonia.

Final Dissertation

Matteo Piovacari – 27th August 1995

Hand-in Date: 2nd June 2020

Number of strokes: 191 529

Ex. Number: 463084

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SUMMARY

Building sustainable peace in countries that experienced protracted violence demonstrates to be

rather challenging. Since the end of the Cold War, the International Community has struggled to

figure out the optimal recipe to lay the foundations for enduring stability in post-war scenarios, while

conflict kept on recurring in countries where peace had already been secured, at least on paper.

Within the peacebuilding debate involved with solving this troubling issue, the doctrine of

Infrastructures for Peace emerged, showing an unprecedented potential to address conflict in a

transformative and sustainable manner. Given that little research exists in this domain of peace

studies, this dissertation chose to explore in-depth a practical experience of Infrastructures for Peace

mandated to enhance peacebuilding at the grassroots level. These are the Commissions for Inter-

Community Relations in North Macedonia, established as peacebuilding platforms to enhance inter-

ethnic dialogue at the community level. Starting from the hypothesis that the Commissions are not

fulfilling their prerogatives as local peace infrastructures, the research sought to dig deeper into

their examination, trying to answer the question: are the Commissions for Inter-Community Relations

living up to the expectations as effective Infrastructures for Peace?

Through an exploratory single case study design, the research outlines evident gaps in the

Commissions’ functioning, which are currently not fulfilling their prerogatives as Infrastructures for

Peace at the grassroots. By triangulating findings from interviews with secondary sources’ data, the

investigation concludes that the Commissions never played a decisive role in the improvement of

inter-ethnic relations at the Municipal level, as they were majorly bypassed by political authorities.

Moreover, the research shows that political influence and lack of technical as well as financial

support stand out as major obstacles to their working capacity. Notably, the politicization of these

organs detrimentally affects the dimensions of transparency, accessibility, and participation that this

dissertation keenly considered. Lastly, the thesis concludes by forwarding recommendations with

policy implication to suggest improvements in light of the evidenced shortcomings.

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ADDENDUM – CORONAVIRUS HARDSHIP

The research work was partially affected and challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic. As specified

within the same dissertation, my initial plan consisted of conducting research directly on the field in

North Macedonia, as a way to maximize the research scope and get an in-depth sense of the reference

context. To this purpose, I had already contacted officials from international organizations and

members from the Center for Inter-Cultural Dialogue, who had made themselves available to

materially support the research development as well as my stay in the country. My initial idea was of

spending the whole month of April in North Macedonia, to recruit and run a substantial number of

interviews and explore first-hand the working conditions of some Commissions for Inter-Community

Relations. However, this was made impossible by the outbreak, leading to a forced downsizing of the

research outreach. Unfortunately, the online means of communication did not reveal to be equally

effective at the time of reaching out to possible participants to the interview process, considerably

prolonging the recruitment process. Moreover, the hardship created by the pandemic in North

Macedonia affected the response time and readiness of candidates. I sought to minimize the

underlined challenges by contacting a high number of possible interviewees via email and capitalizing

on the already-recruited participants’ networks. The support received by some of them was

fundamental to finally reach out to a minimum number of respondents to conduct the interviews.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The submission of the Master dissertation is a huge accomplishment and the result of dedication,

perseverance, and passion for the subject matter. However, such a goal would not have been possible

without the support of many incredible people who made this research achievable. First and foremost,

I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Chiara De Franco, who fondly assisted my writing journey,

guiding my – at times unexperienced – steps. With her, I would like to thank all my wonderful

professors of the Master course, who provided me with stimulant perspectives on the world of

international politics, encouraging my hunger for knowledge and scholarly growth. I also wish to

thank all the close people that supported me during these months of work. My family, my colleagues,

my friends, and the extraordinary individuals I met in Cluj-Napoca, who provided me with much

needed cheering moments and thoughtful conversations to regroup and come back to the dissertation

clear-headed. In particular, I would like to thank Federica Mangano, who was my supportive

companion and practically the only human presence I could count on for refreshing moments during

the months of home quarantine. Special thanks also go to Benjamin Lutz and Bianca Rusu. They

demonstrated kind heart and friendship in supporting my work in challenging times. Finally, the

dissertation would not have been possible without the invaluable contribution of the participants to

the investigation, who enthusiastically got engaged with the research and helped me reaching out to

further candidates despite the hardship created by the Coronavirus outbreak.

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INFRASTRUCTURES FOR PEACE AT THE GRASSROOTS: INVESTIGATING

THE COMMISSIONS FOR INTER-COMMUNITY RELATIONS IN NORTH

MACEDONIA

by

MATTEO PIOVACARI

Dissertation submitted for the degree of

MASTER OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

in

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND LAW

University of Southern Denmark

2020

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Table of Contents

1) INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 9

2) PEACEBUILDING: A BROAD FIELD ............................................................. 13

2.1 A ‘CONTESTED UNDERSTANDING’ OF PEACEBUILDING ...................................... 14 2.2 PEACEBUILDING AS BUILDING INSTITUTIONS ....................................................... 15

2.2.1 CRITICISMS TO THE ‘LIBERAL PEACEBUILDING’ PARADIGM ......................... 18

2.3 PEACEBUILDING AS BUILDING PEACE FROM THE ROOTS .................................. 20 2.4 I4P: INFRASTRUCTURES TO SUSTAIN PEACE ........................................................... 22

2.4.1 CONCEPTUALIZING INFRASTRUCTURES FOR PEACE ........................................ 24

2.4.2 TYPES OF INFRASTRUCTURES .................................................................................. 27

3) RESEARCH DESIGN .......................................................................................... 31

3.1 NATURE AND AIMS OF THE RESEARCH ...................................................................... 31 3.2 RESEARCH QUESTION & HYPOTHESIS ....................................................................... 32 3.3 CASE STUDY METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 33

3.3.1 THE NORTH MACEDONIAN CONFLICT & PEACE PROCESS ............................... 35

3.3.2 THE PEACE ARCHITECTURE AND CICRs ................................................................ 39

3.4 THE POINT ON THE RESEARCH METHOD .................................................................. 41 3.4.1 DATA COLLECTION ..................................................................................................... 42

3.4.2 INTERVIEWS .................................................................................................................. 43

3.4.3 DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................... 44

3.4.4 KEY INDICATORS ......................................................................................................... 45

3.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................ 47

4) RESEARCH RESULTS ....................................................................................... 48

4.1 THEME 1: CICRS AND LOCAL INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS ................................... 48 4.2 THEME 2: CHALLENGES OF THE CICRS ...................................................................... 50 4.3 THEME 3: KEY INDICATORS ........................................................................................... 52

4.3.1 TRANSPARENCY ........................................................................................................... 52

4.3.2 ACCESSIBILITY ............................................................................................................. 54

4.3.3 PARTICIPATION ............................................................................................................ 56

5) DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS ................................................................... 57

5.1 INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS ............................................................................................ 57 5.2 GAPS OF THE CICRS ........................................................................................................... 58 5.3 TRANSPARENCY, ACCESSIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION ..................................... 60 5.4 ANSWER TO THE RESEARCH QUESTION .................................................................... 63 5.5 POLICY IMPLICATION - RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE

IMPROVEMENT ........................................................................................................................ 64

6) CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 68

6.1. AVENUES FOR RESEARCH ............................................................................................. 69

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 71

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ANNEX A – INTERVIEWS QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................. 83

ANNEX B – INFORMED CONSENT FORM ....................................................... 85

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List of Abbreviations

CDI Community Development Initiative

CICR Commission for Inter-Community Relations

CID Center for Intercultural Dialogue

CSO Civil Society Organization

I4P Infrastructures for Peace

IGO International Governmental Organization

INGO International Non-Governmental Organization

MK North Macedonia

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

NLA National Liberation Army

LLSG Law on Local Self-Government

LPC Local Peace Council

OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

OFA Ohrid Framework Agreement

OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

SG Secretary General

UN United Nations

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

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“Let us create the social space that brings Truth, Mercy, Justice, and Peace together within a

conflicted group or setting. Then energies are crystallized that create deeper understanding and

unexpected new paths, leading toward restoration and reconciliation”

- John Paul Lederach

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1) INTRODUCTION

Since the creation of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, the International Community1 has kept the

fostering of peace worldwide as a primary objective. The Charter drafted during the San Francisco

Conference stated peremptorily the necessity to join endeavors to achieve peace internationally and

to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.2 The question of whether this objective

has been achieved as of today has been resounding for years in academia and across policymaking

environments. By observing the intensity and frequency of armed violence in the last few decades,

the answer seems negative. The Peace Research Institute of Oslo’s3 dataset on armed conflicts offer

a contrasting scenario to the expectations cherished by the Charter. Despite a stark decline in the

frequency of inter-States wars, the overall number of conflicts shows an upward trend.4 Although

different interpretations5 have been given to the data, some facts appear not debatable. Noticeably, in

the last two decades, the number of intra-States wars tripled, followed by war casualties.6 What

stands out even more is the conflict relapse rate. According to the 2011 World Development Report,

more than 90% of the civil conflicts occurring between 2000 and 2011 burst in countries that had

experienced a civil war in the past 30 years.7 More studies add that a quarter of all peace agreements

signed are likely to collapse within five years, and nearly half of them do not last more than ten years.8

In 2005, this shortcoming was deplored by the SG Annan as he announced the Peacebuilding

Commission’s creation.9 Worryingly, only a few peace processes of the contemporary era led to stable

1 For the purposes of this dissertation, we will employ a comprehensive definition of ‘International Community’. This is

both an overlapping and interconnected community of nation-States, that may join efforts and capabilities to give rise to

common and shared institutions, as well as a more persons-based notion of “Community of People”, together with all its

more or less organized extensions (e.g. NGOs). For the people-centered definition see: Bado Arsène Brice,

“Understanding the International Community”, Hekima Review, No. 44 (2011). 2 UN Charter, Preamble and Article 1. 3 PRIO has dealt since the postwar period with collecting data on armed conflicts. 4 Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), “Trends in Armed Conflict, 1946-2016”, PRIO, February 2017 (available at

https://www.prio.org/utility/DownloadFile.ashx?id=1373&type=publicationfile). 5 A debate inflames the academia concerning the issue of interpretation of the data on armed violence. See for example:

Steven Pinker, “Why the World Is More Peaceful”, Current History, Vol. 111, No. 741 (2012); John Gray, “Steven

Pinker is wrong about violence and war”, The Guardian, March 2015 (available

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-declining). 6 PRIO, supra note 4. 7 World Bank, “World Development Report 2011”, World Bank, February 2011 (available at

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/806531468161369474/pdf/622550PUB0WDR0000public00BOX361476B.

pdf), 2. 8 See for example: Paul Collier, V. L. Elliott, Håvard Hegre, Anke Hoeffler, Marta Reynal-Querol & Nicholas

Sambanis, “Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy”, World Bank, May 2003 (available at

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/908361468779415791/pdf/multi0page.pdf). 9 Annan confirmed the trend for which “half of the countries emerging from violent conflict revert to conflict within 5

years”. See: UN General Assembly, Report of the Secretary-General, In larger freedom: towards development, security

and human rights for all, UN Doc. A/59/2005, 21 March 2005, para. 114.

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settlements.10 The recurrence of violence cycles11 proves the partial inability of the International

Community to design effective peace-oriented strategies in the aftermath of conflict to avoid its

resurgence.12 As a whole, one of the main issues in our contemporary era is not much related to the

prevention of new wars, but with the permanent termination of those that have already started.13 This

fundamental objective began to be addressed at a systematic level especially since the early 90s,

labeling the related efforts under the encompassing term of ‘peacebuilding’. This latter had been

existing already in the practice of a few NGOs. However, solely from the last decade of the 20th

century it started to be part of the UN vocabulary14 and connected to a broad combination of multi-

structured efforts and multi-stakeholder processes aimed to enhance countries’ capabilities for

achieving long-lasting peace. However, empirics suggest that the current understanding of structures

that can sustain peace in the long term appear substantially inadequate.15 International actors

committed to peacebuilding often struggle to ensure sustainable conditions for conflict prevention

and transformation in post-war scenarios. The precepts delineated in San Francisco cannot be fulfilled

as far as peace is not correctly grounded in a sustainable manner.

The literature has widely explored this issue, seeking to sort out the ideal recipe for building peace in

war-shattered countries. Some have emphasized the concept of peacebuilding as statebuilding, but

neglecting the grassroots dimensions of peace and, in the case of the UN, relying too often on short-

term ad hoc interventions. The presentation of the debate on peacebuilding will serve as the

introductory framework for the investigation. The significance of merging statebuilding objectives

with efforts at the grassroots level is recognized, whereas current peacebuilding endeavors have

largely favored in an exclusive manner one or the other. To this aim, the ultimate goal of this

dissertation is to bring a valid contribution to the field of peace and conflict studies by shedding light

10 Fernand Varennes, Peace Accords and Ethnic Conflicts: A Comparative Analysis of Content and Approaches, in:

John Derby & roger Mac Ginty (eds.), Contemporary Peacemaking: Conflict, Violence and Peace Processes, 2003, 151. 11 World Bank, supra note 7, 2. 12 This is worsened by the fact that when the perspectives of building peace collapse, violence is usually greater and all

gains from any development process erased. Collier et al. define ‘reverse development’ as the obliteration of

development gains as a consequence of conflict relapse. See: Charles T. Call & Elizabeth M. Cousens, “Ending Wars

and Building Peace: International Responses to War-Torn Societies”, International Studies Perspectives, No. 9 (2008),

1; Collier, Elliott, Hegre, Hoeffler, Reynal-Querol & Sambanis, supra note 8, 13-32. 13 Barbara F. Walter, “Conflict Relapse and the Sustainability of Post-Conflict Peace”, World Bank, Background Paper,

September 2010 (available at

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/128031468182669586/pdf/620260WP0Confl0BOX0361475B00PUBLIC0.

pdf), 2 14 See for example: UN General Assembly - Security Council, Report on the Panel on United Nations Peace

Operations, UN Doc. A/55/305 – S/2000/809, 21 August 2000. 15 Hans J. Giessman, “Embedded Peace. Infrastructures for Peace: Approaches and Lesson Learned”, Berghof

Foundation – UNDP, 2016 (available at

https://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/Democratic%20Governance/Conflict%20Prevention/Berghof-

UNDP_EmbeddedPeaceI4P_2016.pdf), 5.

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on one area of peacebuilding that has received attention only in recent times, that is the topic of

Infrastructures for Peace (I4P). Having been introduced by Lederach during the late 90s, the

expression took hold in academia and international fora thanks to the successful establishment of I4P

in countries such as Kenya and Ghana. However, it is still on the process of finding a concrete

grounding within the field, backed by solid empirical evidence. I4P own the potential to compensate

for the deficiencies of current gaping approaches to peacebuilding, fostering self-sustaining peace in

societies formerly embroiled in violence. While peacebuilding has traditionally sought to join

disconnected interventions at various levels to build synergies for sustainable peace, I4P theory

focuses on structuring interrelated cooperative mechanisms from top to bottom and vice versa.16 I4P

are finally able to provide societies with organizational and structural capacities for conflict

transformation, rather than merely relying on changing “the hearts and minds” of the parties in

conflict.17

To give prominence to the ground-breaking concept of I4P, and drawing on the solicitation of several

authors towards expanding empirical research on this domain,18 this dissertation will resort to the

analysis of the case study of the Commissions for Inter-Community Relations (CICRs)19 in North

Macedonia (MK). These Local Peace Councils (LPCs) were conceived as part of the Ohrid

Framework Agreement that put an end to a period of armed violence between the Albanian-ethnic

insurgent group NLA and government armed forces. The primary justification for this case study’s

choice lies in the fact that MK shows a scenario in which I4P were institutionalized in State bodies

as an integral part of the peace process. A more in-depth assessment of Commissions’ functioning is

deemed valuable for fostering the understanding of top-down I4P acting at the grassroots, producing

valuable findings for the advancement of the field of I4P and for guiding practice improvement with

feasible policy implications. The author does not have pretensions of generalization, but it is believed

that sharing lessons-learned can be useful for the improvement of comparable efforts in designing

I4P in similar contexts.

16 Ulrike Hopp-Nishanka, “Giving Peace an Address? Reflections on the Potential and Challenges of Creating Peace

Infrastructures”, Berghof Foundation, June 2012 (available at https://www.berghof-

foundation.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Publications/Handbook/Dialogue_Chapters/dialogue10_hopp_nishanka_lead.pdf),

1. 17 Ibid. 18 See for example: Kai Brand-Jacobsen, “Infrastructures for Peace (I4P): A Critical New Frontier in Peacebuilding”,

Department of Peace Operations, Discussion Paper, September 2013 (available at

https://kaibrandjacobsen.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/infrastructure-for-peace/); Giessmann, supra note 15, 4. 19 The Commissions appear in the literature also with the appellation of “Committees” and “Councils”. The three titles

are considered by the author interchangeably.

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Overall, this dissertation wants to answer to the following Research Question: are the CICRs living

up to the expectations as effective I4P? The investigation moves from the hypothesis that the Councils

are barely functional, as drawn by previous research assessments. Finally, it will be argued that

although the CICRs represented a breakthrough in the way they institutionalized inter-ethnic dialogue

in MK, their capacity to serve as peacebuilding platforms dedicated to join-problem solving and

cooperation among ethnic communities remains mostly negligible.

The thesis is split into five parts. Chapter 2 presents an overview of peacebuilding to introduce the

current status of the field and provide the theoretical framework of the research. This step is necessary

to introduce the topic of I4P, covered in the last section of the Chapter. Next, Chapter 3 describes the

research design and elucidates the methods employed to collect and process the data. Within the

methodological framework, the CICRs case study is contextualized. Chapter 4 is devoted to

displaying the research findings by resorting to a thematic analysis. Finally, Chapter 5 discusses the

results and reflects on the effectiveness of the CICRs in performing their mandate, by drawing on the

I4P literature. Finally, recommendations originated from the discussion are put forward. The last

Chapter contains the conclusions and proposes avenues for further research.

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2) PEACEBUILDING: A BROAD FIELD

What follows aims to give an extensive overview of the status of the theoretical debate on

peacebuilding. Notably, the discussion will elucidate how scholars and actors engaged first-hand with

peacebuilding answered the critical question: ‘How can peace be effectively built?’. Introducing one

of the central theoretical debates in the field of peacebuilding serves the purpose of outlining how

peacebuilding objectives of building peace starting from building State institutions or, instead, from

local peacebuilding processes have been often contemplated following a ‘silo mentality’, meaning

that one objective was considered as independent or at the expenses of the attainment of the other.

From here, the innovation brought by the topic of I4P finds room. The peacebuilding contrasting

stances will be finally reconciled through the concept of I4P, nevertheless inserting this specific

research work within the ‘grassroots peacebuilding’ strand as we will explore I4P operating at the

grassroots level. The theoretical framework is not inducive of any theory that is directly employed,

proven, or disproven through the investigation process. However, it serves the purpose of positioning

the research work within the existent literature on peacebuilding, leaning towards the area of I4P. The

following excursus seeks to shed clarity on the theoretical domain we are operating in, and it will

represent the introductory conduit for the exploration of the CICRs case study.

At the time of Annan’s report “In larger freedom” in 2005, the notion of peacebuilding had already

made its way in both the language and praxis of the UN and other international agencies. In 1992, SG

Boutros-Ghali introduced it to the UN’s vocabulary within his Agenda for Peace. Peacebuilding was

defined as an “action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify

peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict”.20 During the 90s, the adoption of the peacebuilding

lexicon progressively occurred also for other international actors,21 that increasingly saw it as being

instrumental to broader humanitarian and security objectives of the international agenda.22 Authors

and key practitioners agree that peacebuilding entails more than merely separating enemies and

accommodating belligerent parts’ interests (peacekeeping and peacemaking respectively); instead, it

20 UN General Assembly - Security Council, An Agenda for Peace: Preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-

keeping: Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to the statement adopted by the Summit Meeting of the Security

Council on 21 January 1992, UN Doc. A/47/277 – S/24111, 17 June 1992, para. 21. 21 See for example: Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Peacebuilding: a development perspective, 2004 (available

at https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/upload/ud/vedlegg/fredsarbeid/peace_engelsk.pdf); Department for

International Development, Review of the UK government approach to Peacebuilding, 2003 (available at

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/67945/ev646s.pdf). 22 Michael Barnett, Hunjoon Kim, Madalene O’ Donnell & Laura Sitea, “Peacebuilding: What is in a Name?”, Global

Governance, No. 13 (2007), 43.

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aims to address the underlying factors of the conflict and promote social recovery.23 Nevertheless, its

definition features a considerable variation of meanings. The next paragraph will turn to shed light

on this point by reviewing the relevant literature and contributions thereon.

2.1 A ‘CONTESTED UNDERSTANDING’ OF PEACEBUILDING

In the definition provided by Collins Dictionary, peacebuilding is “the application of measures to

maintain peace in an area that has been previously affected by conflict”.24 Although the concept may

resound unequivocal, even its most straightforward formulation is ambiguous. For instance, the

assumption that peace is a univocal concept has been largely disputed, and there is today a broad

consensus on the differentiation between Positive and Negative peace.25 It is indisputable that even

the most basic definition paves the way for an extension of peacebuilding conceptual span, raising a

number of issues to be addressed. One of the most crucial points regards the operational focus of

peacebuilding, namely which measures have to be taken and which methodologies to be implemented

to build peace. One of the major challenges of peacebuilding is related to “problems caused by

confused and contested understandings of what it means to build peace in the aftermath of war”.26

The literature exposes the fact that peacebuilding has attracted a surplus of theoretical contributions,27

often at odds with each other, at the expense of its operational effectiveness.28 In other words,

peacebuilding has emerged as an “overarching multidimensional concept”, which nonetheless often

falls shorts of practical effectiveness.29

The debate around peacebuilding counts innumerable contributions. David asserts that there are “as

many visions of peacebuilding as there are experts on the issue and actors on the field.”30 Barnett et

23 Charles T. Call & Susan E. Cook, “On Democratization and Peacebuilding,” Global Governance, Vol. 9, No. 2

(2003), 233. 24 Collins English Dictionary, Definition of Peacebuilding. 25 In recent times, the academia and key practitioners in the field have increasingly accepted and adopted a dual

definition of peace: ‘Negative peace’ as the absence of violence and ‘Positive peace’ underling the existence of

structures, networks and a cultural framework able to address the root causes of conflicts and enhance peace

sustainably. See: Johan Galtung, Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization, 1996,

31-32. Also: UN General Assembly – Security Council, Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations

(“Brahimi Report”), UN Doc. A/55/305-S/2000/809, 21 August 2000, para. 13. 26 Erin McCandless & Vanessa Wyeth, “Seeking the Forest through the Trees: Institutional Arrangements and Tools for

Peacebuilding”, Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, Vol. 4, No. 2 (2008), 1. 27 See for example: John Heathershaw, “Unpacking the Liberal Peace: The Dividing and Merging of Peacebuilding

Discourses”, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Vol. 36, No. 3 (2008). 28 See for example: Call & Cook, supra note 23, 242. 29 Michael Lund, “What Kind of Peace is Being Built? Taking Stock of Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and Charting

Future Directions, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Discussion Paper, January 2003 (available at

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.494.1386&rep=rep1&type=pdf), 13. 30 Charles-Philippe David, “Does Peacebuilding Build Peace?”, Security Dialogue, Vol. 30, No. 1 (1999), 27.

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al. claim that while it exists a substantial agreement on peacebuilding as a political symbol, actors

disagree on the actual content of peacebuilding, namely which kind of activities need to be

prioritized.31 Extensively, Jenkins recognizes four sources of variation in the definition of

peacebuilding.32 For example, the time frame in which the efforts take place is among them.

Peacebuilding can be intended to forestall the initial outbreak of conflict (pre-conflict peacebuilding

or conflict prevention) or to prevent its resurgence (post-conflict peacebuilding). Most commonly,

the use of the term ‘peacebuilding’ is equated with post-conflict efforts. The researcher followed this

line of definition, since the investigation focused on I4P surged in the aftermath of internal clashes in

MK. Nevertheless, this should not mislead to think that peacebuilding can be implemented

exclusively when the hostilities formally end. Instead, peace must be envisioned as a process that can

start to be built in the immediate outbreak phase of a conflict, and not just. Its fostering can begin

even before violence bursts, through the design of conflict prevention, early warning, and conflict

transformation structures.

Call and Cook recognize two main strands of the peacebuilding literature, divided following the

operational focus of the activities in place.33 The first strand would originate from the definition given

by Boutros-Ghali in his Agenda for Peace. The erstwhile SG explicitly referred to “rebuilding the

institutions and infrastructures of nations torn by civil war and strife”34, giving to peacebuilding a

connotation that much has to do with the broader concept of statebuilding.35 Conversely, the

alternative strand emphasizes nonelite processes, namely the reconstruction of the social fabric and

other dimensions of non-violent conflict resolution operating at the community level.36 Drawing

inspiration on this latter categorization, the next sections are dedicated to present the status of the

described peacebuilding debate.

2.2 PEACEBUILDING AS BUILDING INSTITUTIONS

Throughout the Cold War, the main responses to war contemplated by the UN relied on brokering

peace agreements (peacemaking) or deploying light-armored troops to ensure ceasefires

31 Barnett, Kim, O’ Donnell & Sitea, supra note 22, 44. 32 These are: (1) time dimension, (2) the objective and (3) methods of the peacebuilding action as well as the (4) type of

actors involved in the process. See: Robert Jenkins, Peacebuilding: From Concept to Commission, 2013, 19. 33 Call & Cook, supra note 23, 235. 34 UN General Assembly 47/277 – Security Council 24111, supra note 20, para. 15. 35 And defined by the authors as focusing on “elite processes”. See: Call & Cook, supra note 23, 235. 36 Ibid.

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(peacekeeping). Nevertheless, the end of the Cold War introduced renovated conflict and instability

at the intra-State level. As the world began to witness to the burst of violent civil strives such as the

wars in the Balkans, the UN increased the span of its peace operations, starting to go beyond the rigid

approaches of peacemaking and peacekeeping. It was in this context that the SG proposed a new

taxonomy of UN peace operations.37 By observing the examples provided within the Agenda for

Peace,38 it appears clear that the UN conceived peacebuilding as the rebuilding of States’ networks

and structures, showing a particular inclination towards “strengthening [of] new democratic

institutions”.39 In the 1995 Supplement to an Agenda for Peace, it was expanded that the essential

goal of post-war efforts must be “the creation of structures for the institutionalization of peace”,40

remarking the importance of functioning State structures41 able to heal the frictions between former

warring parties.42 The term ‘peacebuilding’ was preferred to the notion of ‘statebuilding’, as this latter

could convey a greater idea of intrusiveness and result more politically charged.43 The majority of

the UN-led peace operations during the 90s followed a pattern based on two pillars: democratization

and marketization.44 Following documents45 consolidated the UN vision.46 Such a stance on

peacebuilding was, in turn, adopted by other IOs,47 external stakeholders48 and donors that came to

37 Roland Paris, At War’s End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict, 2004, 18. 38 The 1992 report provides some examples of peacebuilding activities: “disarming the previously warring parties and

the restoration of order, the custody and possible destruction of weapons, repatriating refugees, advisory and training

support for security personnel, monitoring elections, advancing efforts to protect human rights, reforming or

strengthening governmental institutions and promoting formal and informal processes of political participation”. See:

UN General Assembly 47/277 – Security Council 24111, supra note 20, para. 55. 39 Ibid, para. 59. 40 UN General Assembly - Security Council, Supplement to an Agenda for Peace, UN Doc. A/50/60 – S/1995/1, 25

January 1995, para. 49. 41 The State was put under the spotlight as there started to emerge a strong consensus that the core cause of conflict was

produced by the existence of a weak or failed State. See: Mary Kaldor, New and Old Wars, 2001, 25. 42 Through, for example, their transformation into political parties. UN General Assembly - Security Council, supra

note 40, para. 100. 43 Thorsten Benner, Andrea Binder, and Philipp Rotmann, “Learning to Build Peace? United Nations Peacebuilding and

Organizational Learning: Developing a Research Framework, Global Public Policy Institute, Research Paper, 2007

(available at https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/31421/Learning_to_Build_Peace.pdf), 13. 44 Paris, supra note 37, 19. 45 See for example: UN General Assembly, An Agenda for Development, UN Doc. A/48/935, 6 May 1994; United

Nations Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, An inventory of post-conflict peace-

building activities, June 1995. 46 Stephen Ryan, The Evolution of Peacebuilding, in: Roger Mac Ginty (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Peacebuilding,

2013, 29. 47 For example, the OECD recognized that “peacebuilding is not statebuilding”, nonetheless conceding that

“statebuilding remains a central element […] for institutionalizing peace”. See: OECD, “Concepts and Dilemmas of

State Building in Fragile Situations: From Fragility to Resilience”, Journal on Development, Vol. 9, No. 3 (2009), 71. 48 Nation-building became a key objective of US foreign policy after 9/11 as the attacks strengthened the concerns

towards weak or failed States (e.g. Afghanistan). See for example: United States of America, The National Security

Strategy of the United States of America, 2002 (available at https://2009-

2017.state.gov/documents/organization/63562.pdf), 1.

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consider statebuilding as the primary objective for the consolidation of peace in the whole

international domain.49

The UN’s conception of post-conflict peacebuilding gave birth to a major strand of the literature on

peacebuilding, identifying this latter with the re-construction of the State and the accommodation of

elites’ interests in what can be considered a “structure-centered” approach.50 We will now turn to

review what scholars have contributed thereupon. Many authors51 have expanded the UN-originated

conceptualization of peacebuilding, asserting how this latter coincides fundamentally with

statebuilding prerogatives52 and that local elites must necessarily make part of the reconstruction

efforts.53 Hartzell and Hoddie resorted to statistical evidence to highlight the effectiveness of

establishing power-sharing institutions as a determinant factor increasing the likelihood of durable

peace.54 Furthermore, Zartman and Call stress that a critical vector to peace is the rebuilding of

authoritative central power,55 in the shape of a minimally effective State able to regulate “alternative

sources of authority”.56 The authors claim that only a centralizing authority can avoid a lack of

certainty in the distribution of State’s functions, which may invite challenges from below,

undermining peace foundations in the long term.57 Cliffe and Manning table a similar argument.58

49 Michael Barnett & Christoph Zürcher, The peacebuilder’s contract: How external statebuilding reinforces weak

statehood, in: Roland Paris & Timothy D. Sisk (eds.), The Dilemmas of Statebuilding: Confronting the contradictions

of postwar peace operations, 2009, 26. 50 Ryan, supra note 46, 33. 51 For instance, Eva Bertram argues that peacebuilding aims at addressing the root causes of conflict by “building the

political conditions for a sustainable, democratic peace”. Likewise, Call and Cousens maintain that a minimal level of

recognized, effective and legitimate institutions is necessary for peace to be maintained once foreign troops withdrawn

from their peacekeeping duties. Nevertheless, the two academics are aware of the intrinsic problems which can rise by

focusing solely on statebuilding to endure peace. For example, focusing on statebuilding can foster authoritarian and

corrupt regimes that are likely to marginalize segments of the population and hence fuel resentment and armed

resistance. See: Eva Bertram, “Reinventing Governments: The Promise and Perils of the United Nations

Peacebuilding”, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 39, No. 3 (1995), 388; Call & Cousens, supra note 12, 9-10. 52 See for example: Michael Barnett, “Building a Republican Peace: Stabilizing States After War”, International

Security, Vol. 30, No. 4 (2006), 89. 53 Ibid, 110. 54 Caroline Hartzell & Matthew Hoddie, “Institutionalizing Peace: Power Sharing and Post-Civil War Conflict

Management”, American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 47, No. 2 (2003), 330. 55 Zartman argues that this source of authority should be legitimated by the establishment of effective participatory

processes. See: William Zartman, Putting Things Back Together, in: William Zartman (ed.), Collapsed States: The

Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority, 1995, 270-272. 56 Call puts an emphasis on how such forms of authority (e.g. traditional power structures, religious leaders) can

effectively benefit the process of peacebuilding. William Reno represents another author voicing that peacebuilders

should not overlook the influence of sub-State authorities, rather, these should be included coherently in the process of

statebuilding. See: Charles T. Call, Building States to Build Peace?, in: Charles T. Call & Vanessa Wyeth (eds.),

Building States to Build Peace, 2008, 365; William Reno, Bottom-Up Statebuilding?, in: Charles T. Call & Vanessa

Wyeth (eds.), Building States to Build Peace, 2008, 156-158. 57 Call, supra note 56, 371. 58 The two scholars are keen to underline that institutions-building is critical for the maintenance of peace, as both the

‘capacity deficit’ and ‘legitimacy deficit’ manage to be addressed only through the presence of an effective and

centralized State authority. ‘Capacity deficit’ is related to the lack of services’ provision to the population. ‘Legitimacy

deficit’ is associated with the fact that the citizens do not hold account of the State. Both are usually characteristics of

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Further, Paris and Sisk claim that statebuilding represents a “crucial element” of any process aimed

at achieving sustainable peace, without which “post-conflict societies are much less likely to escape

the dual ‘traps’ of violence and poverty”.59 The thinkers expand that “more durable peacebuilding

outcomes require more focused attention on building up governmental institutions”.60 Other scholars

exhibit akin standings.61

2.2.1 CRITICISMS TO THE ‘LIBERAL PEACEBUILDING’ PARADIGM

Some authors62 concur that the dimensions introduced by the end of the Cold War posed the basis for

the UN’s conviction that the build-up of market-oriented democracies would constitute an infallible

recipe for peace.63 The same assumption on the ‘liberal peacebuilding’ paradigm met the support of

various theorists.64 Liberalization and democratization came to be considered as the best recipe

against war recurrence. Nevertheless, other scholars contrast this belief, availing of examples to

demonstrate how the liberal peacebuilding paradigm hampered in many cases the actual objectives

of peacebuilding.65 For instance, Ottaway finds out, by reviewing several cases of peacebuilding

operations, that, despite its desirability, the so-called ‘democratic reconstruction model’ had proven

“very difficult and very costly in practice”.66 Paris shares the same empirical viewpoint,67 advocating

fragile and weak States. See: Sarah Cliffe & Nick Manning, Practical Approaches to Building State Institutions, in:

Charles T. Call & Vanessa Wyeth (eds.), Building States to Build Peace, 2008, 164. 59 Roland Paris & Timothy D. Sisk, “Managing Contradictions: The Inherent Dilemmas of Postwar Statebuilding”,

International Peace Academy, Research Paper, November 2007 (available at https://www.ipinst.org/wp-

content/uploads/publications/iparpps.pdf), 1. 60 Ibid, 3. 61 See for example: Samuel R. Berger & Brent Scowcroft, “In the Wake of War: Getting Serious about Nation-

Building”, National Interest, No. 81 (2005); Michael Doyle & Nicholas Sambanis, “International Peacebuilding: A

Theoretical and Quantitative Analysis,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 94, No. 4 (2000), 779. 62 According to Roland Paris, in the aftermath of the Cold War among both peacebuilding practitioners and theorists

“market democracy took on the qualities of a universal antidote to misery and conflict”. Similarly, Ryan confirms that

the ‘liberal peace’ doctrine that propagated in the post-Cold War era inevitably affected also the peacebuilding realm,

despite a lack of empirical proofs of its effectivity in intra-States and post-conflict contexts. See: Paris, supra note 37,

35; Ryan, supra note 46, 27. 63 For example, such a conviction is displayed by the 1996 Agenda for Democratization in which the Secretary General

Boutros-Ghali was keen to underline that “democracy within States [thus] fosters the evolution of the social contract

upon which lasting peace can be built”. See: Boutros Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Democratization, 1996, 6. 64 Among others, Michael Doyle was a strong supporter of the so-called ‘democratic peace’ doctrine, relying on the

conviction that democracy could bring peace both among States and within them. See: Michael Doyle, “Liberalism in

World Politics”, American Political Science Review, Vol. 80, No. 4 (1986); Michael Doyle & Nicholas Sambanis,

Making War and Building Peace: United Nations Peace Operations, 2006. 65 See for example: Kristoffer Liden, “Building Peace between Global and Local Politics: The Cosmopolitical Ethics of

Liberal Peacebuilding”, International Peacekeeping, Vol. 16, No. 5 (2009); Ken Menkhaus, “Somalia: They Created a

Desert and Called It Peace(Building)”, Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 36, No. 120 (2009); David Chandler,

International Statebuilding, 2008, 22-24. 66 Marina Ottaway, “Promoting Democracy After Conflict: The Difficult Choices”, International Studies Perspectives,

Vol. 4 (2003), 315. 67 Paris is strongly skeptical of the so-called ‘Wilsonian’ peace paradigm according to which building liberal market

democracies necessarily foster the conditions for a durable peace. See: Paris, supra note 37, 155.

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instead for a process of “institutionalization before liberalization”.68 Other authors69 follow on

highlighting the gaping conception of peacebuilding as liberal statebuilding. Particular emphasis is

put by some on the limits showed by the democratization process as a “short-run event” imposed by

outsiders.70 Some authors are also wary of the monopolization of statebuilding by outsiders, thus

hindering “endogenous processes that may allow peaceful institutions to emerge”.71

This segment has proven that a consensus exists among several scholars and practitioners on the

centrality of statebuilding efforts for the success of peacebuilding. Nevertheless, some authors also

acknowledge that building peace through statebuilding entails some core issues worthy of

consideration.72 Others argue that statebuilding should not be an exclusive focus,73 either the most

important since it fails in ensuring durable peace under some respects.74 On this point, Campbell and

Peterson maintain that peacebuilding should aim to build peace in a much broader sense than merely

focusing on State institutions.75 A consistent criticism asserts that peacebuilding in this sphere focuses

on ‘appeasing’ the belligerent parties, meeting their needs and interests, while little attention is paid

to the distorted relationships existing in societies emerging from disruptive conflicts.76 The next

section presents the strand of the literature originating from this latter consideration.

68 Paris outlines the importance of prioritizing the establishment of effective institutions of governance and ensuring

political stability as an immediate priority for statebuilding and peacebuilding. The author stresses this point in several

publications. See: Ibid, 187; Roland Paris, “International Peacebuilding and the ‘Mission Civilisatrice’”, Review of

International Studies, Vol. 26, No. 4 (2002); Roland Paris, “Peacebuilding and the Limits of Liberal Internationalism”,

International Security, Vol. 22, No. 2 (1997). 69 See for example: Kimberly Zisk Marten, Enforcing the Peace: Learning from the Imperial Past, 2004, 11, 131-132,

141-144; Benjamin Reilly, Elections in Post-Conflict Societies, in: Edward Newman & Roland Rich (eds.), The UN

Role in Promoting Democracy: Between Ideas and Reality, 2006, 132. 70 Reilly, supra note 69, 132.

71 Susanna Campbell & Jenny H. Peterson, Statebuilding, in: Roger Mac Ginty, (ed.), Routledge Handbook of

Peacebuilding, 2013, 336. 72 For example, Sarah Cliffe and Nick Manning highlight that several tensions might originate by focusing

peacebuilding efforts mainly on statebuilding. Among them, it exists the tendency of considering war-torn societies as

not possessing already existing institutions and building these latter from scratch (‘the fallacy of Terra Nullius’). Or

else, a miscalculation and confusion in the prioritization of statebuilding/peacebuilding objectives accounts as a major

flaw of many peacebuilding operations. See: Cliffe & Manning, supra note 58, 163-166. 73 Doyle and Sambanis underline that peacebuilding must grant attention to other elements and dimensions, such as to

“build[ing] local capacities for conflict resolution” and “deepening of civil society” in order to “improve the prospects

for peaceful governance”. See: Doyle & Sambanis, supra note 61, 779. 74 See for example: Paris, supra note 37; Call & Cousens, supra note 12. 75 Campbell & Peterson, supra note 71, 337. 76 Giessmann, supra note 15, 13.

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2.3 PEACEBUILDING AS BUILDING PEACE FROM THE ROOTS

The term ‘peacebuilding’ was firs coined by Galtung in 1976 to refer to an “associative approach”

towards the construction of peace.77 The thinker put the necessity of establishing non-state channels

of interaction at the core of his peacebuilding theory.78 However, let alone a few contributions,79 the

notion of peacebuilding as begotten by Galtung sunk into theoretical oblivion for years. It found

renewed vigor only through the endorsement by the UN, nonetheless in the above-explored state-

centric fashion. Nevertheless, empirical evidence is far from proclaiming this approach as effective.80

Some theorists argue that the reason behind war recurrence lies in the incapability of statebuilding to

address the root causes of the conflict, which had fueled it in the first place.81 Other scholars point to

the International Community’s incapacity to reconstitute the social fabric of post-war societies,82 joint

with a “disinterest in actor-centered approaches”, leading to neglect critical elements such as

interethnic dialogue and post-trauma rehabilitation of communities, to name a few.83 Part of the

literature has rejected the thesis that peacebuilding should mainly focus on statebuilding endeavors

at the more structural level, rather giving prominence to grassroots processes and social dimensions

of the conflict.84

Lederach has been the most prominent thinker after Galtung to stress the channeling of the

peacebuilding efforts towards the civil society level, as the effective path to transform war-torn

societies sustainably. He focuses on analyzing the psychological dimensions of civil conflicts that

result in deeply divided societies since the violence intensifies animosity, fear, and pre-existent

77 The “associative approach” described by Galtung would allow a removal of structural violence (oppression) as

compared to “dissociative” approaches of peacemaking and peacekeeping exclusively concerned with halting direct

violence. See: Johan Galtung, “Three Approaches to Peace: Peacekeeping, Peacemaking and Peacebuilding”, Impact of

Science on Society, Vol. 25, No. 9 (1976), 297-298. 78 Ibid, 299-300. 79 See for example: Michael Harbottle, “The strategy of Third Party interventions in conflict resolution”, International

Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1 (1980). 80 The conflict relapse rate is employed as evidence of the failure of the State-centric approach to peacebuilding. See for

example: C. S. R. Murthy, “New Phase in UN Reforms: Establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission and Human

Rights Council”, International Studies, Vol. 44, No.1 (2007), 47. 81 However, scholars’ debate on the degree and extent to which peacebuilding endeavors manage and are effectively

capable to address the socioeconomic root causes of conflict. For instance, Jenkins asserts that peacebuilding shall seek

to address the economic, social, political and psychological root causes of conflict, whereas Call and Cousens are

skeptical of the peacebuilding capacity and operational imperative to address the same, as such action would

indefinitely broaden the scope of peacebuilding operations. See for example: Collier, Elliott, Hegre, Hoeffler, Reynal-

Querol & Sambanis, supra note 8; Paris, supra note 37; Jenkins, supra note 32, 20-21; Call & Cousens, supra note 12,

6-7. 82 Nat J. Colletta, Michelle Cullen & Johanna Mendelson Formann, “Conflict Prevention and Post-Conflict

Reconstruction: Perspectives and Prospects”, World Bank, 1998 (available at

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/241911468010490992/pdf/multi0page.pdf), 8. 83 Ryan, supra note 46, 25. 84 See for example: Campbell & Peterson, supra note 71, 339.

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grievances between communities.85 If such dimensions of contemporary conflicts are not properly

addressed, war is likely to recur shortly. The scholar states that peacebuilding cannot rely on

“mechanical processes and solutions”, rather it must address “the restoration and rebuilding of

relationships”.86 A framework for restoring shattered relationships thus becomes crucial for achieving

durable peace. Peacebuilding has to necessarily take into account a “bottom-up approach”87 to support

the level of inter-communal trust-building. Several authors have followed Lederach’s thesis,88

including by resorting to empirical evidence to corroborate these claims.89 For instance, Saunders and

Cockell90 defend the need for peacebuilding to focus on transforming “conflictual relationships

between people into peaceful relationships”.91 They advocate for promoting dialogue between

civilians to address “deep-rooted human conflicts”.92 Cockell recognizes that if local relationships

are fostered by recognition and trust, peace is likely to be maintained “even in the face of institutional

shortcomings”.93 Paris asserts the importance of acting at the grassroots, pursuing the aim to “break

down social barriers between formerly warring communities”.94 Additionally, several other scholars

have highlighted the criticality of grassroots activities, asserting that official high politics processes

alone are only likely to achieve a gaping peace.95 Additionally, several IGOs, INGOs, and

governmental actors demonstrated to be prone to support bottom-up oriented approaches to

peacebuilding.96

85 John Paul Lederach, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies, 1997, 23. 86 Ibid, 24. 87 Earl Conteh-Morgan, “Peacebuilding and Human Security: A Constructivist Perspective,” International Journal of

Peace Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 (2005), 69. 88 See for example: Michelle I. Gawerc, “Peace-Building: Theoretical and Concrete Perspectives”, Peace and Change,

Vol. 31, No. 4 (2006); Hizkias Assefa, The Meaning of Reconciliation, in: European Centre for Conflict Prevention

(ed.), People Building Peace: 35 Inspiring Stories from Around the World, 1999. 89 Marshall and Gurr review several cases of peace processes, finding out that peace settlements are more likely to

endure if “broad reconciliation, recovery [..] strategies” accompany the official peace process. See: Monty G. Marshall

& Ted R. Gurr, “Peace and Conflict”, CIDCM, 2003 (available at

https://sites.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Acrobat/stm103%20articles/cidcm%20Peace%20and%20Conflict%202003.pdf),

15. 90 In the view of the author, peacebuilding as a “political exercise” must seek to transform and restructure in an

“associative” way the broken sociopolitical relationships within a society. See: John G. Cockell, Conceptualising

Peacebuilding: Human Security and Sustainable Peace, in: Michael Pugh (ed.), Regeneration of War-Torn Societies,

2000, 21, 31. 91 Harold H. Saunders, A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Racial and Ethnic Conflicts, 1999,

xvii. 92 Ibid, 81-88. 93 Cockell, supra note 90, 20. 94 Paris, supra note 37, 194. 95 Mari Fitzduff, The Challenge to History: Justice, Coexistence, and Reconciliation Work In Northern Ireland, in:

Mohammed Abu-Nimer (ed.), Reconciliation, Justice, and Coexistence, 2001; Wendy Lambourne, Justice and

Reconciliation: Post-conflict Peacebuilding in Cambodia and Rwanda, 2002; Herbert C. Kelman, Transforming the Relationship Between Former Enemies: A Social-Psychological Analysis, in: Robert L. Rothstein (ed.), After the

Peace: Resistance and Reconciliation, 1999. 96 See for example: Utstein Group, “Joint Utstein Study on Peacebuilding: National Report on Germany”, German

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2003 (available at

http://www.ceipaz.org/images/contenido/Joint%20Utstein%20study%20of%20peacebuilding%20-

%20national%20report%20on%20Germany_ENG.pdf), 4; United Nations Development Program, Role of the UNDP in

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Local communities and relational dimensions of the conflict have received increasingly considerable

attention as the International Community had to deal with the shortcomings of several failed

peacebuilding operations. Latterly, the conflict resolution field has started to draw from both

approaches to tackle more comprehensively the various dimensions of contemporary wars.97 Drawing

on the practical experiences and theoretical developments, it became evident that the faced failures

in avoiding war recurrence stemmed by the negligence of either structural or relational elements, with

these latters having been majorly disregarded. Peacebuilding actors are currently more sensitive to

the necessity of both a systemic (or political) change and a relational (or psychological)

transformation than they were 30 years ago.98 As Gawerc puts it, peacebuilding is increasingly aware

“that it is critical to develop and institutionalize mechanisms that can respond to the full range of

psycho-political and socioeconomic communal needs”, to endure peace.99 Nevertheless, during the

‘90s, one strand of peacebuilding scholars had already begun to envision the construction of

‘infrastructures’ to precisely address this double objective, through an ‘institutionalization’ of conflict

transformation processes. We will now turn to present it.

2.4 I4P: INFRASTRUCTURES TO SUSTAIN PEACE

The word ‘infrastructure’ in association with the term ‘peace’ may sound unusual, since peace has

been generally linked to an inter-personal process. However, the core of the theory of ‘Infrastructures

for Peace’ (I4P) lies in the idea that sustainable peace must be embedded in a network of physical

structures100 able to address distorted relationships through a dynamic process of cooperative

problem-solving interconnecting the various sectors of society. Starting as a product of academia as

introduced by Lederach in 1997,101 the concept gained increasing attention as some practical

experiences resulted successful (e.g. Kenya, Ghana).102 From here, the wording was endorsed by the

crisis and post-conflict situation, UN Doc. DP/2001/4, 27 November 2000; UN General Assembly, Note by The

Secretary-General, Annex, UN Doc. A/51/395, 23 September 1996. 97 Gawerc, supra note 88, 438. 98 See for example: John Paul Lederach, Preparing For Peace: Conflict Transformation Across Culture, 1996; Erin

McCandless, The Case of Land in Zimbabwe: Cause of Conflict, Foundation for Sustained Peace, in: Mohammed Abu-

Nimer (ed.), Reconciliation, Justice and Co- existence, 2001; Oliver Ramsbotham, Hugh Miall & Tom Woodhouse,

Contemporary Conflict Resolution, 3rd Edition, 2011. 99 Gawerc, supra note 88, 438. 100 Giessman, supra note 15, 5. 101 Lederach, supra note 85, x. 102 For an overview of these and other successful experiences in establishing effective I4P: See: Paul van Tongeren,

Creating Infrastructures for Peace – Experiences at Three Continents”, Pensamiento Propio, Vol. 36, No. 37 (2011).

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UN, becoming a key focus of its assistance operations.103 For instance, the Peace Architecture

established in Ghana in 2011 was set thanks to UNDP’s practical support.104

Galtung was the first scholar to speak about the need for “peace structures […] that remove the causes

of war and offer alternatives to war”.105 Such structures were described as comparable to the immune

system of the human body in the sense of contrasting the emergence of violence in a self-sustaining

manner.106 To a certain extent, the work of Cousens and Kumar also served as an introductory

framework for the development of the theory, as they argued that peacebuilding shall prioritize

helping “a given society build[ing] its political capacity to manage conflict without violence”.107 As

said, Lederach often stressed the need for “context-based, permanent, and dynamic platforms”

capable of addressing recurrent episodes of violence and the socio-political (relational) root causes

of the conflict constructively.108 Certainly, a significant contribution to the development of the

discourse of I4P is to ascribe to the surge of the notion of ‘conflict transformation’, on which inter

alia Lederach worked extensively.109 Shortly, if conflict had always been considered an ended

phenomena, thus characterized by a specific triggering event and by the possibility of being solved

once for all, the failure of traditional approaches of conflict resolution110 drove the literature towards

reconsidering the nature of peace and conflict.111 Increasing emphasis emerged on the conviction that

the best way to ensure sustainable peace should proactively engage the warring communities to deal

constructively with conflict, even after a formal agreement may have been reached.112 In this light,

103 UNDP, Issue Brief: Infrastructures for Peace, 2013 (available at

https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/crisis-prevention-and-recovery/issue-brief--infrastructure-for-

peace.html). 104 See: Ozonnia Ojielo, “Designing an Architecture for Peace: A Framework of Conflict Transformation in Ghana”,

Discussion Paper, 2007 (Unpublished Paper). 105 Galtung, supra note 77, 297-298. 106 Ibid. 107 Similarly to Galtung, the authors envision the creation of a kind of peace which owns the appropriate antibodies to

conflict recurrence Elizabeth M. Cousens, Introduction, in: Elizabeth M. Cousens & Chetan Kumar (eds.),

Peacebuilding as Politics: Cultivating Peace in Fragile Societies, 2001, 13. 108 John Paul Lederach, The Moral Imagination: The Art and the Soul of Building Peace, 2005, 47. 109 See for example: John Paul Lederach, The Little Book of Conflict Transformation, 2014. 110 For example, the case of the Genocide in Rwanda happening immediately after a peace agreement had been formally

achieved. In the literature, see for example: Jaine Leatherman, William E. DeMars, Patrick Gaffney & Raimo

Vayrynen, Breaking Cycles of Violence, 1999, 73. 111Such focus drew from the tradition of peace studies which considered conflict to be something not negative per se,

and rather an unavoidable occurrence. Lederach considers it positively as the ‘motor of change’, without which human

condition would remain static and unsatisfied. However, it hinges on the way conflict is dealt with which may make it

violent and disruptive of peace, or constructive and stimulant of stronger bonds. See: Lederach, supra note 109, 29;

Ramsbothal, Miall & Woodhouse, supra note 98, 279; Raimo Vayrynen, From conflict resolution to conflict

transformation: a critical review, in: Ho-Won Jeong (ed.), The New Agenda for Peace Research, 1999; Kumar

Rupesinghe, Civil Wars, Civil Peace, 1998. 112 Gawerc, supra note 88, 439.

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peace is remarked as a process113 that needs to be nurtured consistently. With the appropriate tools,

networks, and institutions, conflict can be structurally transformed, finally leading to “increasing

injustice, reducing violence, and restoring broken relationships”.114 Conversely, if left unaddressed,

it can lay the foundations for recurrent cycles of violence.115 The notion of I4P arose from the conflict

transformation theory, seeking to give practical operationalization to it.

2.4.1 CONCEPTUALIZING INFRASTRUCTURES FOR PEACE

Galtung and Lederach have been the two major pioneers of the concept of I4P, whose origin is

therefore to attribute to academic elaboration. The theory has subsequently met the contribution of

many authors and agencies. For instance, in the understanding of the UNDP, anything contributing

to dialogue, conflict prevention, and mediation can be considered making part of the broad I4P

conjunction.116 Conversely, Giessmann grasps the necessity to interlink various peacebuilding efforts

and actors, and seeks to deliver more uniqueness to the definition, arguing for the “dynamic

networking of skills, capacities, resources, tools and institutions” aiming to “enhance sustainable

resilience of societies117 against a relapse into violence”.118 On the same page, some scholars frame

I4P with an attentive look at the systemic dimension and the necessary interrelatedness of the various

components. Brand-Jacobsen is keen to draw parallelisms between how I4P should be envisioned and

existing infrastructures in public sectors such as healthcare and the military. He stresses the need for

“institutional expertise and organizational architecture”119 capable of enhancing integration,

interaction, and interplay among its constitutive parts. As Lederach suggests, I4P shall address

“cooperative and engaged relationships beyond immediate office”,120 which do not result from

prefabricated structures or rules of behavior, but can only stem from an interrelated system of

mutually-reinforcing elements.121 From a different perspective, van Tongeren defines I4P as

“institutional mechanisms” that foster “cooperative, problem-solving approaches to conflict, based

113 Chetan Kumar, Conclusion, in: Elizabeth M. Cousens & Chetan Kumar (eds.), Peacebuilding as Politics: Cultivating

Peace in Fragile Societies, 2001, 185. 114 Lederach, supra note 109, 23. 115 Brand-Jacobsen, supra note 18. 116 In the eyes of the UNDP, the whole of I4P consists in a broad range of tools and resources, defining it as a “network

of interdependent systems, resources, values and skills held by government, civil society and community institutions

that promote dialogue and consultation; prevent conflict and enable peaceful mediation when violence occurs in a

society”. See: UNDP supra note 103, 6. 117 Social resilience is a fundamental element in the lexicon of the I4P doctrine. Shortly, it translates in the broader

capacity of a society to peacefully transform any conflict that may arise internally. Instead of a climate of animosity,

social resilience wants to build a culture of dialogue and collaboration. 118 Giessmann, supra note 15, 10. 119 Brand-Jacobsen, supra note 18. 120 John Paul Lederach, “The Origins and Evolution of Infrastructures for Peace: A Personal Reflection”, Journal of

Peacebuilding & Development, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2012), 13. 121 Giessmann, supra note 15, 10.

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on dialogue”.122 In this light, conflict transformation capacities result nestled in institutionalized

mechanisms.

To sum up, notwithstanding variance in its definition, the concept of I4P keeps some key elements at

its core, shared by most of the authors: a set of working institutions that can be more or less structured,

an emphasis on enhancing conflict transformation capacities, the importance of systemic-thinking

and interrelatedness of structures across all layers of society, and lastly, an indefinite time horizon.

I4P are built to provide societies with enduring conflict transformation structures, rather than relying

on ad hoc interventions handled by third parties. Nevertheless, these components of I4P are present

with a degree of variation from case to case, hinging on contextual variables and material constraints

on the ground. For instance, the interconnection among components123 of the I4P network is an

element missing in the case study under analysis.

The I4P theory presents significant comparative advantages with regard to the traditional approaches

to peacebuilding. Noticeably, it brings an added value to the field of peace studies inasmuch it has

the potential to overcome deficiencies of the way peacebuilding has been approached in the last few

decades. Firstly, the central idea underlying the concept of I4P concerns the possibility to provide a

multi-sectoral approach to peace, allowing peacebuilding to be addressed comprehensively,

structurally, and in a sustainable manner. The peacebuilding spectrum presents both agencies

specialized in top-down approaches and actors engaging more in bottom-up responses to conflict.124

However, problems arise, when one line prevails on the other, as peace risks to be only partially

accomplished. A second significant risk entails the ‘coherence and coordination dilemma’, involving

scarce coordination among actors, leading to efforts duplications and inefficiency of the overall

system.125 In these cases, synergies able to root peace sustainably are only presumed but rarely

achieved.126 Conversely, the development of I4P allows for creating intrinsic synergies throughout

122 Paul van Tongeren, “Increasing Interest in Infrastructures for Peace”, Journal of Conflictology, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2011),

45. 123 For example, we make reference to the connection and cooperation channels that could be established between

national, regional and local Peace Councils. 124 International organizations such as the United Nations, for instance, have majorly focused on statebuilding and on

acting at the top-leadership levels for building peace. On the other side, local and international NGOs have mostly

channeled their efforts at the middle-range and grassroots dimensions of conflict, putting major emphasis on the

importance of reconciliation and conflict resolution at the community level. 125 See for example: Cedric de Coning, “The Coherence Dilemma in Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Systems”, African Journal on Conflict Resolution, Vol. 8, No. 3 (2008). 126 Smith provides a resume of the Join Utstein Study of Peacebuilding, which analyzed the outcomes of 336

peacebuilding projects during the 90s. the Study individuated the lack of coordination and overall strategic planning at

the country level as one of the main factors contributing to the failure of the peacebuilding efforts in the long-run. See:

Dan Smith, “Towards a Strategic Framework for Peacebuilding: Getting Their Act Together Overview: Report of the

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the peacebuilding system, interconnecting the institutional level with the grassroots dimension (see

Figure 1 below). I4P doctrine allows to partially narrow the gap between the two strands of

peacebuilding conceptually divided over the operational focus of the action. I4P create conjunction

between the two, by bridging community-level needs with elite-focused processes. I4P can contribute

to enhancing what Lederach defines “vertical capacity”, fundamentally rooting sustainable peace.127

This capacity lies in structuring interdependencies that are not exclusively horizontal, but especially

“up and down the levels of leadership”, meaning they range vertically across all society layers,128

allowing spaces for participation across society hierarchies. Furthermore, many scholars129 point out

how peacebuilding efforts are mostly short-lived and crisis-driven, and thus insufficient to build a

sustainable framework for peace.130 On this issue, another advancement of the I4P doctrine involves

the principles of sustainability and domestic foundation131 to give peace an address.132 In fact, the

underlying factors leading to conflict recurrence seldom can be addressed by third parties in a short

timeframe.133 Unsustainability may represent a challenge also for I4P. However, if well designed,

these guarantee capabilities for conflict transformation that self-sustain even after foreign aid exhaust

its support, ensuring a long-term commitment to peacebuilding. Here, although the establishment of

these structures can be third-party assisted (e.g. UNDP), ensuring full indigenous ownership is

imperative to allow a sustained process enshrined with societies’ own capacities, granting a sense of

local ownership fundamental for the success of the overall peace process.134

Joint Utstein Study of Peacebuilding”, PRIO, January 2004 (available at

https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/upload/kilde/ud/rap/2004/0044/ddd/pdfv/210673-rapp104.pdf). 127 John Paul Lederach, Just Peace – The Challenge of the 21st Century, in: European Centre for Conflict Prevention

(ed.), People Building Peace: 35 Inspiring Stories from Around the World, 1999, 29. 128 Ibid, 30. 129 See for example: Ryan, supra note 46, 25; Brand-Jacobsen, supra note 18. 130 International actors tend to move out funding and political oversight once a ceasefire appears to hold, although peace

is often far from being self-sustaining. See: Call & Cousens, supra note 12, 11-12. 131 Lederach maintains that “the greatest resource of sustaining peace in the long term is always rooted in the local

people and their culture”. See: Lederach, supra note 85, 94. 132 Hopp-Nishanka, supra note 16, 3. 133 Call & Cousens, supra note 12, 7. 134 Andries Odendaal, “The Political Legitimacy of National Peace Committees”, Journal of Peacebuilding &

Development, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2013), 41.

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Figure 1: I4P multi-sectoral approach VS disconnected peacebuilding efforts.135

2.4.2 TYPES OF INFRASTRUCTURES

I4P theory is all-encompassing of a wide range of structures with the potential to intervene at all

stages of the conflict cycle,136 from enabling peace processes to support reconciliation and healing,

up to prevent conflict from breaking out in the first place.137 Yet, it is possible to distinguish two

broad groups of I4P. Those connected with the governance level of the State or I4P with a national

135 The diagram visually exemplifies the key characters of a well-structured I4P network, such as the one that was

established in Ghana in 2011, as compared to the disconnection of traditional approaches to peacebuilding,

characterized by a ‘silo mentality’ and differentiated efforts, as it is easily deducible in the second part of the

illustration. In the case of Ghana, a National Peace Committee was established at the national level as a platform of

consultation and cooperation among the main stakeholders at the political and governmental level. Regional and District

Peace Councils were also created at the regional and local level, engaging with conflict transformation and community

peacebuilding. Peace Promotion Officers were established to facilitate communication and coordination among the

many decentralized Peace Councils, and between these latters and the central National Committee. In order to support

the Peace Architecture, a Peacebuilding Support Unit was established to coordinate the work of government agencies

with each component of the I4P network, as well as to provide technical and administrative support to the whole

system. The graph clearly shows the multi-sectoral approach that I4P are capable of pursuing simultaneously, by

seeking to address peacebuilding at different levels of society in an interconnected way. For Ghana Peace Architecture,

see: Giessmann, supra note 15, 27-29. 136 By perceiving conflict as a linear process, peacebuilding has been generally bounded solely to the final phase of

international assistance in conflict resolution. I4P can act throughout the conflict cycle, buttressing States’ institutional

and societal unreadiness to handle conflict constructively since its early phases. In the words of Giessmann, I4P can

establish temporary platforms and fora for “inclusion, participation and collaboration, based on the mutual interest of

conflicting parties”, with the aim of exploring alternatives to the use of armed violence. See: Cousens, supra note 107,

6; Giessmann, supra note 15, 12. 137 Brand-Jacobsen, supra note 18.

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mandate, and those instead emerging from the civil society, often thanks to the engagement of Civil

Society Organizations (CSOs) and NGOs.138 I4P of both kinds have been often established with the

support of foreign donors and international organizations such as the UN through UNDP’s supportive

missions.139

As far as the first group (top-down I4P) is concerned, this can include National Peace Platforms,

Offices, Departments and Ministries of Peace as well as National, District, and Local Peace Councils

if created by the central government, among others.140 Besides, other I4P fall under this definition,

such as peace programs within the schools’ curricula. An example of I4P with a national mandate can

be traced Ghana’s recent past, where the National Peace Architecture stood out in ensuring both a

peaceful transition during electoral turmoil and people’s engagement with peacebuilding and

dialogue across conflict divides.141 Other successful cases can be found in the recent past of South

Africa, Kenya, Costa Rica, and the Philippines.142 About nationally mandated I4P, Giessmann asserts

that “transparency, accessibility and participation”143 are three vital elements for the success of top-

down I4P. We will consider these factors more in-depth in Chapter 3.

Moving to the alternative type (bottom-up I4P) of I4P, these results usually enshrined in society-

based initiatives promoted by civil society actors, such as NGOs, associations of citizens, insider

mediation networks, or faith-based organizations.144 These I4P can take different forms depending

138 For a good overview of the various types and practices of I4P, see for example: Laura Aldrighetti, Infrastructures for

Peace – Nesting Opportunities, 2013 (available at

http://pacedifesa.hopto.org/public/documents/Infrastructures%20for%20Peace%20Nesting%20opportunities%20%28di

%20Laura%20Aldrighetti%20-%20CSDC-%29.pdf). 139 This is the case of inter alia Costa Rica, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Kirghizstan, Tunisia, Nepal. See, for example:

UNDP, supra note 103; Vincent Verzat, “Infrastructures for Peace: A Grass-roots Way To Do State-building”, Berghof

Foundation, April 2014 (available at https://www.berghof-

foundation.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Publications/Handbook/Dialogue_Chapters/dialogue10_comment_verzat.pdf). 140 Nationally mandated I4P brings the substantial advantage of counting on the support of the central government,

therefore benefitting from wide-ranging budgetary and implementation capacities, besides a major and extensive

legitimacy. On the other hand, a drawback lies in the same dependency on the State’s authority Secondly, in some cases

of civil wars, the central government itself is involved in perpetuating the violence In these eventualities, the

government may lack the necessary legitimacy and authority to establish effective and widely supported I4P. Some

argue that for this reason, I4P should be preferably as much independent as possible from the central government. See:

van Togeren, supra note 122, 46; Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace, “Nesting Peace: Creating

Infrastructures to Sustain Diversity”, GAMIP, September 2013 (available at

http://www.gamip.org/images/Switzerland%206th%20Summit.pdf), 93. 141 Particularly, the role of the National Peace Council in connection with Regional and District Peace Councils was

fundamental to halt the internal. See: Giessmann, supra note 15, 27-29. 142 See for example: van Tongeren, supra note 122, 47-48. 143 Giessmann, supra note 15, 15. 144 The “Tunisian Quartet” is regarded as one of the most successful examples of bottom-up I4P of the last decades,

confirmed by the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015. This infrastructure took shape by the coalition of

influential non-state actors in Tunisia during the early phases of the revolution in 2011. Its engagement with multi-party

mediation and conflict resolution was fundamental to ensure a peaceful transition towards the democratic elections of

2014. See: Giessmann, supra note 15, 18.

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on the context and needs to be addressed, ranging from national bodies for the promotion of inter-

factional dialogue (e.g. Inter-Religious Council in Uganda) to restorative circles supporting

communities in post-trauma healing and reconciliation.145 Certainly, this category of I4P has a strong

potential to build bridges across conflicts’ divides146 as it can rely on the perceived neutrality of its

members or on the authority of influential members from within the ethnic, religious or cultural

groups.147

To sum up, this Chapter was dedicated to introducing the theoretical framework within which this

research moves. The literature reviewed on the topic of peacebuilding serves the purpose of clarifying

the theoretical foundations from which the research necessities of this dissertation stem. Reviewing

the literature on peacebuilding has been useful to demonstrate that, rather than focusing exclusively

on the institutional level, peacebuilding must also address the social divides and grievances that result

exacerbated by the conflict. As Bercovitch recognizes, while official tracks of high politics are

undoubtedly important, a condition of sustainable peace can be rooted solely in the enhancement of

reconciliation and mediation at the community level.148 Without careful consideration of the

grassroots dimension of post-war societies, building enduring peace may become hard to accomplish.

As a conclusive point, the concept of I4P has been exalted for its potential of simultaneously

addressing various dimensions of peacebuilding as well as overcoming related shortcomings of the

discipline in the way it has been approached in the last 40 years. What emerges from the debate on

peacebuilding is that the different approaches must complement each other, and the I4P theory

innovates in this respect. It becomes possible to build a network of conflict transformation capacities

and infrastructures across multiple levels and sectors of society capable of both appeasing elites’

interests and acting at the grassroots level of peacebuilding.

To conclude, this dissertation is based on a double research necessity stemming from the literature

reviewed. First and foremost, but to a limited extent, the research aims to expand the study of

grassroots peacebuilding. While the sphere of peacebuilding envisioned as statebuilding overflows

of contributions and this latter approach has been extensively engaged by the UN peace operations,

inputs regarding a more bottom-up dimension of peacebuilding have been relatively fewer and less

145 Aldrighetti, supra note 138, 4. 146 Giessmann, supra note 15, 18. 147 Bottom-up I4P entail several advantages. They can be more context-sensitive, having enhanced independence and

legitimacy in the eyes of the public as they work in close contact with the affected communities. The other side of the

coin regards their reduced scope and impact, a lower availability of resources and funding available, and the risk of

enhancing pre-existing power structures within communities by relying on influential personalities. See: Giessmann,

supra note 15, 19. 148 Jacob Bercovitch, Resolving International Conflicts: The Theory and Practice of Mediation, 1996, 7.

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investigated. However, the grassroots dimension of peace is deemed crucial to ensure sustainable

outcomes in peace processes.149 Indeed, the concept of I4P allows for a partial reconciliation between

the two contrasting stances of the debate on peacebuilding. Indeed, within an ideal model of I4P, the

establishment of working institutions at the national, regional, and local levels is joint and intrinsic

to reconciliation, conflict transformation, and collaborative problem-solving capacities operating at

the grassroots. However, since the CICRs case study lacks the interconnection between national and

Municipal I4P, what follows in the next Chapters fundamentally focuses on investigating

peacebuilding at the community level, as intended by the mandate of the CICRs. The institutional

element of peacebuilding is left on the background. As it has been argued, the I4P theory presents

ground-breaking features which respect to traditional peacebuilding approaches, providing the

rationale for focusing on its specific exploration. All in all, the present work is justified by the scarcity

of research on the topic of I4P. Despite the potential demonstrated, the sphere of I4P is still poorly

considered, and researches able to grasp nuances of different experiences are scarce.150 Drawing on

this gap, the present dissertation is hence inspired by the opportunity to contribute to enrich the

broader understanding of I4P’ functioning, as well as the nurturing and dissemination of relevant

findings thereon. Particularly, exploring more in-depth existing I4P, such as the CICRs, can

contribute to a pool of expertise for improving further research and I4P practice.

The next Chapter will deal with presenting the research design, outlining the methodology chosen as

well as the methods employed for collecting and processing the data. Besides, the key features of the

case study of the CICRs will be put forward. Here, I4P were established nation-wide after a period

of internal violence in 2001. As a result of the peace negotiations, the CICRs were set as national-

mandated (top-down) I4P responsible for handling inter-ethnic relations at the local level. Clearly,

their mandate was directed towards grassroots peacebuilding. Their functioning as I4P constituted

the core element of the present investigation.

149 See for example: Saunders, supra note 91; Cockell, supra note 90; Lederach, supra note 85; Lambourne, supra note

95; Marshall & Gurr, supra note 89. 150 Giessmann, supra note 15, 4.

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3) RESEARCH DESIGN

The purpose of this Chapter is to explain the research methodology used to explore whether the

CICRs are living up to their expectations as effective I4P. The author resorted to the exploratory case

study methodology to address the research necessities, examining the case of the CICRs in MK.

Employing the case study methodology points to provide a 360-degree view on the current condition

of the CICRs, leading to an in-depth exploration of thus established I4P.

The Chapter follows a logical structure. Firstly, the research aims are stated, accompanied by the

presentation of the issues and assumptions at stake. The third segment lays out the research

methodology, justifying the choice of resorting to a case study approach. Afterward, the background

of the CICRs case study is outlined. The last segment of the Chapter turns to give a more detailed

description of the research methods employed and to clarify the main steps of the investigation

process.

3.1 NATURE AND AIMS OF THE RESEARCH

When it comes to the type of research design, three main paradigms are usually contemplated:

exploratory, explanatory, and descriptive.151 Generally speaking, the amount of pre-existing

information determines the nature and aims of the research. When little information about a particular

research topic exists, the explanatory type is deemed the most appropriate research framework.152

Briefly, this pattern is followed to investigate a phenomenon that is not clearly defined yet, and little

knowledge is known about, which nonetheless is believed to contain elements worth discovering.153

Vogt provides a comprehensive definition of the concept as “a broad-ranging, purposive, systematic,

prearranged undertaking designed to maximize the discovery of generalizations leading to description

and understanding of an area of social or psychological life”.154 The goal of exploratory research is

to document a certain phenomenon or object as completely as possible or to dig deeper into earlier

explanations.155 As Hancock and Algozzine sum up, the exploratory research is “often a prelude to

additional research efforts”.156 Taking such characteristics into account, this research follows the

151 Dawson R. Hancock & Bob Algozzine, Doing Case Study Research: a Practical Guide for Beginning Researches,

2nd Edition, 2011, 37. 152 Pentii Routio, Models in Research Process, 2007 (available at http://www2.uiah.fi/projects/metodi/177.htm). 153 Robert A. Stebbins, Exploratory Research in the Social Sciences, 2001, 5. 154 Paul W. Vogt, Dictionary of Statistics and Methodology: A Non-Technical Guide for the Social Sciences, 2nd

Edition, 2011, 105. 155 Routio, supra note 152. 156 Ibid.

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exploratory research framework for two main reasons. The first hinges on the observation that the

ambit of I4P is insufficiently investigated. This gap motivated the author to proceed with further

empirical assessments in this field in the light of the potential possessed by the I4P. Given that

exploratory researches “seek to define research questions of a subsequent study”,157 a key aim of the

investigation is to contribute to I4P theory’s development, generating useful food for thought to

stimulate additional research.

Secondly, the CICRs have been subject to previous assessments. However, the author considered

necessary to explore their current condition, some years after the last academic investigations on the

status of these bodies, and undertake their study resorting to the I4P lenses for analysis. In fact, the

researcher innovatively focused on exploring these organs concerning the principles of transparency,

accessibility, and participation. Given that these criteria are considered crucial for the establishment

of effective I4P, the investigation aims to foster ulterior research on approaches through which these

key aspects could be better methodologically framed and materially strengthened in I4P practice. On

this latter point, however, the research seeks to depart from the mere proposition of further research

opportunities, as generally foreseen by the exploratory research framework. Noticeably, the findings

of these research work, taking the shape of recommendations, are designed to have policy

implications for providing useful guidance for improvement regarding the operativity of the CICRs.

Additionally, policy recommendations in the form of lessons learned from the North Macedonian

experience aim to address broader necessities for improvement in the praxis of I4P.

3.2 RESEARCH QUESTION & HYPOTHESIS

Originating from the described aims, this dissertation strives to answer to the following Research

Question:

RQ1: Are the CICRs living up to the expectations about their operativity as effective I4P?

Stemming from the interest for exploring the working capacity of the CICRs, the Research Question

was deconstructed in three sub-questions. These are:

1. To what extent the CICRs contributed to improving the status of inter-ethnic relations in the

Municipalities where they were established?

2. What are the main obstacles to the proper functioning158 of the CICRs?

157 Hancock & Algozzine, supra note 151, 37. 158 Properly functioning CICRs are expected to regularly meet and perform office’s duties, to advise the Municipal

authorities on sensitive issue about inter-ethnic relations and to actively promote their improvement at the Municipal

level.

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3. How are the principles of transparency, accessibility, and participation observed in the structure

and functioning of the CICRs?

The sub-questions are envisioned to shed light on the broader issue of whether the CICRs are serving

their mandate properly as local I4P. According to mandate’s expectations, the CICRs should stand as

institutionalized fora for promoting dialogue among ethnic communities, actively contributing to

improving inter-ethnic relations at the Municipal level. To fulfill these prerogatives, the CICRs are

expected to be as transparent, accessible and participated as possible.

The Research Question was not built from scratch. In fact, it originates from the hypothesis that the

CICRs are majorly dysfunctional and failing to undertake their core functions. Such an assumption

was based upon a preliminary review of the research material about the CICRs, providing a slightly

negative overview. For instance, Petkovski concluded that the CICRs were insignificant for what

concerned their mandate of advancing inter-ethnic relations among communities.159 Similarly, Lyon

and Treneska-Deskoska had come to similar conclusions in two separate papers.160 The objective of

the present research is to verify the presented hypothesis under current conditions, some years after

the mentioned evaluations were conducted. This comes intrinsically linked with exploring the sub-

issues indicated above.

3.3 CASE STUDY METHODOLOGY

The research resorts to the single case study approach regarding the country and type of I4P into

question. However, it must be specified that it consists of an embedded case study, thus multiple units

corresponding to virtually all the CICRs were considered to pursue an analysis as much holistic as

possible over the broad condition of these LPCs.

The case study methodology161 is rather useful when the subject of the investigation represents a less

known phenomenon in a real-life context. According to Yin, this methodological approach is used

159 Aleksandar Petkovski, “The Effects of the Work of Committee and Commissions on Interethnic Relations in

Republic of Macedonia”, Acta Universitatis Danubius. Relationes Internationales, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2014). 160 Aisling Lyon, “Municipal Decentralisation in the Republic of Macedonia: preserving a multi-ethnic state?”, Federal

Governance, Vol. 8, No. 3 (2011), 36; Renata Treneska-Deskoska, Committee and Commissions for Inter-Community

Relations as Instruments for Inter-ethnic Dialogue in the Republic of Macedonia, in: Vladimir Čolović (ed.), Law of the

Countries in the Region, 2010, 83. 161 For more extensive literature on the case study methodology, see for example: John Gerring, Case study research:

principles and practice, 2007; Christine B. Meyer, “A Case in Case Study Methodology”, Field Methods, Vol. 13, No.

4 (2001).

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“to contribute to our knowledge of individual, group, organizational, social, political, and related

phenomena”.162 Besides, exploratory case studies are employed to answer questions typically

introduced by what and how.163 Although case studies present a significant limitation of

contextualization of the findings that makes it impossible to generalize research outputs in diverse

contexts automatically,164 George and Bennett maintain that one of their key advantages is the high

degree of conceptual validity,165 permitting to come up with indicators that best fit the research

purposes. The flexibility granted by the case study approach, especially for what concerns the

methods handled, is described as “both the strength and weakness of this approach”166 as compared

to other methodologies. As a whole, an embedded case study results valuable for fostering a holistic

analysis of a specific phenomenon, providing the researcher with an encompassing overview able to

grasp nuances of complex processes. Moreover, such a methodology allows more flexibility in

integrating qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and knowledge integration.167

However, it should be specified that the researcher did not put much emphasis on comparing elements

from different units of analysis. Instead, these were taken in an aggregated way to outline more

general trends and features of the CICRs single case study. Finally, the case study methodology

allows some degree of generalization, although limited (the “petit generalizations” defined by

Stake).168 As it is followed in this dissertation, findings extrapolated by a specific case study can be

generalized by way of recommendations for policy implementation. To sum up, the single embedded

case study methodology is considered valuable because: (1) it allows exploring a specific question at

great length, (2) it comprehensively takes into account the context, and (3) it examines various

dimensions of the units under analysis, ultimately providing a holistic perspective on the single case.

The CICRs have been selected as a convenient case for deepening I4P’s understanding, resulting

optimal for the empirical research on both grassroots peacebuilding and on the partially unexplored

field of I4P. The choice of investigating the CICRs is motivated upon two grounds. The first reason

hinges on the fact that the CICRs were established as national-mandated I4P equipped with a

grassroots peacebuilding mandate. MK shows the attempt of a peacebuilding process that gave

relevance to the grassroots dimensions, engaging Municipal ethnic communities within platforms for

162 Robert Yin, Case study research: Design and methods, 5th Edition, 2014, 4. 163 Ibid. 164 Yin defines it as the “problem of knowing whether a study’s findings are generalizable beyond the immediate

study.” See: Yin, supra note 162, 48; also: Alexander George & Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory

Development in the Social Sciences, 2005, 30-32. 165 George & Bennet, supra note 164, 19. 166 Meyer, supra note 161, 329. 167 Roland W. Scholz & Olaf Tietje, Embedded Case Study Methods: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative

Knowledge, 2002, 14. 168 Robert E. Stake, The Art of Case Study Research, 1995, 7.

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joint problem-solving and dialogue. Hence, conflict transformation capacities in the inter-ethnic

domain were formalized into enduring institutions. Of particular interest for the author was that the

CICRs have not been subject to any comprehensive assessment of recent date, beyond some surveys

conducted by non-governmental organizations in the last few years. The observations on the

dysfunctionality of the CICRs provided by past research paves the way for a detailed exploration that

can bring out updated deficiencies and challenges of the CICRs. Consequently, the research findings

can potentially enrich the pool of expertise devoted to the improvement of I4P doctrine and practice.

The second reason is contingent. This is the geographical closeness to the location where the

dissertation was written, which could have enabled the author to conduct research directly on the

field. The material condition of geographical proximity of the country was determinant in the

selection of the CICRs as a suitable case study for this research. However, such an opportunity

became eventually impossible by material conditions dictated by the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in

Europe.

The next segment aims to provide a brief overview of the background context in which the CICRs

surged. The author is convinced that providing the reader with a richer picture of the situation of MK

can better serve the understanding of the overall dissertation.

3.3.1 THE NORTH MACEDONIAN CONFLICT & PEACE PROCESS

During the 1990s, MK169 was cherished at the international level as the only successful case170 of

peaceful secession171 from the former Yugoslavia172 as well as of internal appeasement of ethnic

interests.173 In the region, Macedonian Slavs and non-Macedonian minorities174 had been

169 For an exhaustive compilation of the ancient and contemporary history of North Macedonia, and the political

questions around it, see: Hugh Poulton, Who are the Macedonians?, 1995; Elisabeth Barker, The origin of the

Macedonian dispute, in: James Pettifer (ed.), The New Macedonian Question, 1999, 4; Doko Slijepcevic, The

Macedonian Question: The Struggle for Southern Serbia, 1958; James Pettifer, “The New Macedonian Question”,

International Affairs, Vol. 68, No. 3 (1992). 170 Radoslava Stefanova argues that part of this success was due to the deployment of UN peacekeepers with a

preventive mandate, which surely facilitated the transition and stabilization process in the region. See: Radoslava

Stefanova, “Preventing Violent Conflict in Europe: The Case of Macedonia”, The International Spectator, Vol. 32, No.

3-4 (1997), 113. 171 For a good overview of the Yugoslav Wars: Richard C. Hall, War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the

Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the breakup of Yugoslavia, 2014 172 Alex J. Bellamy, “The new wolves at the door: Conflict in Macedonia”, Civil Wars, Vol. 5, No. 1 (2002), 127. 173 In 1991, the Badinter Commission praised Slovenia and North Macedonia for the constitutional guarantees ensured

to minority groups. See: Steve Terrett, The Dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Badinter Arbitration Commission: A

Contextual Study of Peace-Making Efforts in the Post-Cold War World, 2000. 174 In 1994, around 23% of the population belonged to the Albanian minority while the Macedonian majority accounted

to nearly 64%. See: State Statistical Office, Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Macedonia, 2016 (available at

http://www.stat.gov.mk/Publikacii/PDFSG2016/03-Naselenie-Population.pdf), 67.

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cohabitating relatively in peace for centuries.175 Nevertheless, conflict broke out right at the beginning

of the new millennium, lasting for several months.

Although authors have given diverse interpretations176 of the conflict in MK, it can be asserted that a

mixture of social, economic,177 and political grievances, as well as unmet demands for recognition178

lied behind the outburst of violence in 2001.179 Bellamy argues that the violence should be seen as a

struggle for social transformation, seeking “to renegotiate the relative positions of Albanians and

Macedonians vis-à-vis the state” and to ensure a greater portion of State ownership to the Albanian

175 For example, according to a census of Yugoslavia in 1981, over 1.9 million inhabitants of the Socialist Republic of

Macedonia: 1.2 million were Slav Macedonian, 370 thousand Albanians, 44 thousand Serbs, 86 thousand Turks and 50

thousand Gypsies. See: Youssef Courbage, “Census, Elections and Population: The Case of Macedonia”, Population-E,

Vol. 58, No. 4-5 (2003). 176 For instance, the so-called theory of the “Four Wolves” pointing to the interference of regional powers. See for

example: Dean Katsiyiannis, “Hyper-nationalism and irredentism in the Macedonian region: Implications for US

policy, part I”, European Security, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1996), 325; John J. Mearsheimer & Stephen Van Evera, “Redraw the

Map, Stop the Killing”, The New York Times, April 1999 (available at

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/19/opinion/redraw-the-map-stop-the-killing.html?auth=login-google). Alternatively,

Robert Kaplan and Samuel Huntington are strong advocates of the ‘ancient ethnic hatred’ theory, according to which

clashes and violence in the Balkan region are rooted in centuries-old cultural and religious cleavages. See: Robert D.

Kaplan, Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History, 1993; Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilization?”, Foreign

Affairs, Vol.72, No. 3 (1993). 177 During its first decade of life, MK had suffered a brutal economic downturn, mainly due to a double trade embargo

put into place by Yugoslavia before, and Greece afterwards. This situation of economic shortage had rebounded

especially on the conditions of ethnic Albanians who, by being more concentrated in rural areas, were already suffering

from economic underdevelopment and marginalization from public sector positions. As a demonstration of this, by

2001 only less than 20% of Albanians were lawfully employed. See: Karl Cordell & Stefan Wolf, Ethnic Conflict:

Causes-Consequences-Responses, 2009, 56; Bellamy, supra note 172, 126; Susan L. Woodward, Balkan Tragedy:

Chaos and Dissolution after the Cold War, 1995, 365. 178 Despite the Constitution of the newly established republic had recognized the “full equality” in terms of citizenship to

other minorities living within the new country’s borders, the constitutional framework resulted in de facto discriminatory

of the non-Macedonian minority groups. While Macedonian Slavs represented the dominant group, almost one-third of

the whole population was affected by various discriminatory provisions, inevitably laying the foundations for grievances

and internal unrest. As a whole, the State of MK had emerged in a multi-ethnic setting seeking to provide assurances to

minority groups regarding the fact that anybody could theoretically compete for the ‘control’ of the State, whereas non-

Macedonian minorities were de facto marginalized by constitutional entry barriers. Discontent and demands for improved

political, social and economic recognition from the Albanian minority mounted throughout the 1990s. See: Constitution

of the Republic of Macedonia, 1991 (available at https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/mk/mk014en.pdf),

Preamble; Julie Kim, “Macedonia: Country Background and Recent Conflict”, Congressional Research Service, March

2002 (available at http://www.lb7.uscourts.gov/documents/10-33271.pdf), 4-5; John Philips, Macedonia. Warlords and

Rebels in the Balkans, 2004, 65; Peter H. Liotta, “The ‘future’ Republic of Macedonia: the last best hope”, European

Security, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2000), 71; 179 See for example: Nicholas Wood, “Trust me, says NLA leader, this is peace”, The Guardian, August 2001 (available

at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/18/balkans2); Bellamy, supra note 172, 119, 122, 140.

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minority.180 The escalation can also be framed in light of the conjunction of a series of driving

factors,181 such as the war in Kosovo.182

Clashes exploded in February 2001 in the Northern part of the country between the ethnic Albanian

rebel group NLA and government armed forces. A series of violent confrontations continued for

seven months, affecting the civilian population183 but without reaching the level of escalation of other

Balkan wars. Overall, the clashes caused more than 200 victims, and around 180 000 internally

displaced people.184 Intensive international mediation185 drove the belligerents to sign the Ohrid

Framework Agreement (OFA) on the 13th of August 2001. The peace accord promoted a dual-track

strategy,186 attempting to concretely address Albanian minority’s grievances while at the same time

maintaining the territorial integrity of the State.187 The OFA provided substantial amendments to the

1991 Constitution, introducing guarantees of minority rights,188 and de facto transforming MK in a

multi-ethnic nation-State. A cornerstone of the OFA regarded the process of decentralization189 of

180 Similarly, Adamson and Jovic put at the origin of the North Macedonian ethnic dispute the re-negotiation of ethnic

identities in the wake of North Macedonia independence in 1991, following which the concept of nationhood was

approached to the Macedonian ethnicity, while Albanians were relegated to the political status of ‘minority’ group. See:

Kevin Adamson & Dejan Jovic, “The Macedonian–Albanian political frontier: the re-articulation of post-Yugoslav

political identities”, Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 10, No. 3 (2004); Bellamy, supra note 172, 123. 181 Authors seem to agree that all these cultural, political and economic factors can be considered necessary but not

sufficient elements to justify the surge of armed conflict, since such conditions had persisted throughout the 90s without

intensification. See for example: Pavlos I. Koktsidis, “How Conflict Spreads: Opportunity Structures and the Diffusion

of Conflict in the Republic of Macedonia”, Civil Wars, Vol. 16, No. 2 (2014). 182 Stefan Wolff, Ethnic Conflict: A Global Perspective, 2006, 114. 183 Lars Jerker Lock, “Macedonia”, Sida Division for South-East Europe, October 2003 (available at

https://www.sida.se/contentassets/a4319f99cc124339800aecd53db36bfa/macedonia-a-conflict-analysis_936.pdf), 8. 184 Brita Helleland, “Feature: Light returns to Black Mountain village as returnees rebuild homes”, UNHCR, November

2002 (available at https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2002/11/3dc29aca4/feature-light-returns-black-mountain-village-

returnees-rebuild-homes.html). 185 For a detailed overview of the negotiation process leading to the Ohrid Framework Agreement and main political

actors involved, see: Eva Gross, The Europeanization of National Foreign Policy: Continuity and Change in European

Crisis Management, 2009, 32-38; Alice Ackermann, “Macedonia in a post-peace agreement environment: a role for

conflict prevention and reconciliation”, The International Spectator, Vol. 37, No. 1 (2002), 73. 186 For a shortcut on the peace negotiations outcome, see for example: International Crisis Group, “Macedonia: War On

Hold”, ICG-Balkans Briefing, August 2001 (available at

https://www1.essex.ac.uk/armedcon/world/europe/south_east_europe/macedonia/MacedoniaWaronHold.pdf). 187 Ragaru argues that the OFA undevoured to “confirm the existence of a unitary state while promoting institutional

recognition of ethnic diversity”. See: Nadège Ragaru, “Macedonia: between Ohrid and Brussels”, Chaillot Papers, No.

107 (2008), 21; also: Florian Bieber, Partial Implementation, Partial Success: The Case of Macedonia, in: David

Russell & Ian O’Flynn (eds.), New Challenges for Power-Sharing: Institutional and Social Reform in Divided Societies,

108. 188 Substantial improvements occurred for what concern the issues of official languages of the State, the political

representation of ethnic minorities and their inclusion in the public sector. See: Framework Agreement, 2001 (available

at https://www.osce.org/skopje/100622?download=true), Annex A, Article 7, 8, 69 - paras 6.2, 5.2. 189 Bruunbauer assesses the status of pre-2001 North Macedonia as “possibly the most centralized State in Europe”.

However, the excessive centralization had made local authorities often inefficient in addressing the economic and social

needs of their communities See: Ulf Brunnbauer, “The implementation of the Ohrid agreement: ethnic Macedonian

resentments”, JEMIE - Journal on ethnopolitics and minority issues in Europe, No. 1 (2002), 6; Institute for Regional

and International Studies (IRIS) & Institute for Democracy, Solidarity and Civil Society (IDSCS), “The Process of

Decentralization in Macedonia: Prospects for Ethnic Conflict Mitigation, Enhanced Representation, Institutional

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power,190 concretized through the implementation of the Law on Local Self-Government (LLSG).191

Decentralization was theoretically directed at making local governance more effective as well as

strengthening local democracy and representation of minority groups,192 thereby preventing feelings

of marginalization that had fostered grievances in the first place.193

The peace process laid the foundations for what many considered a significant step towards achieving

sustainable peace in MK. However, several authors agree that the outcomes were mixed, and the OFA

failed to address the inter-ethnic relations comprehensively and sustainably.194 Ackermann is careful

to outline that a high level of mistrust continued to permeate ethnic communities after 2001, as the

OFA seemed to leave heated sentiments of existential threat195 and social insecurity without directly

addressing the reconciliation problem.196 Violence “reinforced exclusionary ethnic attitudes and

politics”,197 widening social ethnic distance. Overall, the transformation of MK into a multi-ethnic

State constituted a fragile equilibrium in which ethnicity is still given precedence over citizenship. In

such a context, the risk of ethnic polarization is not entirely eradicated.198 Therefore, it is possible to

assert that the conflict is still not fully healed, rather, we could speak about a ‘frozen’ conflict, as

Efficiency and Accountability”, idscd.org, 2006 (available at https://idscs.org.mk/wp-

content/uploads/2009/08/MACEDONIA_DECENTRALIZATION.FULLREPORT_APPENDIX.pdf), 9. 190 For a comprehensive analysis of the process of decentralization in North Macedonia, see: Aisling Lyon,

Decentralisation and the Management of Ethnic Conflict: Lessons from the Republic of Macedonia, 2016. 191 For a review of the entire document, see: Law on Local Self-Government, January 2002 (available at

http://mls.gov.mk/images/laws/EN/Law_LSG.pdf). 192 According to Kamelia Dimitrova, the decentralization of power in multi-ethnic contexts has the potential to foster

inter-ethnic coexistence as it provides local communities with an enhanced sense of ownership and empowerment, as

well as an increased identification of the population in the State. See: Kamelia R. Dimitrova, “Municipal Decisions on

the Border of Collapse: Macedonian Decentralisation and the Challenges of Post- Democracy”, Southeast European

Politics, Vol. 2, No. 3 (2004), 176. 193 Lyon, supra note 190, 57. 194 Many authors point to a gaping an incomplete peace process. For instance, Lyon is keen to underline how the

decentralization process in North Macedonia was rather partial in failing to offer adequate protection and equal

recognition to all ethnic communities. See for example: Lyon, supra note 160; Ragaru, supra note 187; Jenny Engström,

“Multi-ethnicity or Bi-nationalism? The Framework Agreement and the Future of the Macedonian State”, JEMIE -

Journal on ethnopolitics and minority issues in Europe, No. 1 (2002); Zhidas Daskalovski, “Language and Identity: The

Ohrid Framework Agreement and Liberal Notions of Citizenship and Nationality in Macedonia”, Journal on

Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, Vol. 3, No. 1 (2002), 15. 195 Most Macedonians perceived the OFA reforms as undermining their security and identity, which for many had

sedimented on the affirmation of a mono-ethnic Macedonian nation-State. See: International Crisis Group,

“Macedonia’s Name: Why the Dispute Matters and How to Resolve It”, ICG-Balkans Report, December 2001

(available at https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/122-macedonia-s-name-why-the-dispute-matters-and-how-to-

resolve-it.pdf), 9. 196 Among other things, the issue of war crimes that had been committed by armed actors from both sides kept on

fueling inter-ethnic hostilities and distrust, despite the formalization of the legislative revisions. See: Ackermann, supra

note 185, 75. 197 Elena Spasovska, The Role of Women’s Non-Government Organisations in Building Peace in the Republic of

Macedonia, 2017 (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation), 3. 198 Ragaru, supra note 187, 21.

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some episodes of violence occurred in the last few years demonstrate.199 In 2008, Reka wrote that

OFA’s biggest challenge would have been to withstand the proof of time as a practical framework

for conflict prevention. Twelve years after, this research wants to contribute to assessing the

performance of such a process.200

3.3.2 THE PEACE ARCHITECTURE AND CICRs

Chapter 2 has stressed how the development of constructive relationships, reconciliation, and joint

problem-solving capacities is fundamental to root sustainable peace. The capacity to promore national

dialogue and “recreate some form of peaceful coexistence” among communities is essential for long-

term peace and stability.201 Hislope argued that one of the main problems of the status of inter-ethnic

relations in the pre-2001 MK had been the lack of mechanisms that could cut across ethnic divisions

and build “a web of interlocking relations”.202 To foster inter-ethnic dialogue, the OFA envisioned

the creation of a peace architecture to deal with inter-ethnic coexistence.

Firstly, the already existing central Council dedicated to deal with inter-ethnic issues was reformed

and strengthened by constitutional amendments. Composed of 19 members representing the different

minority groups,203 this national organ undertook the duty of considering questions of inter-ethnic

nature and forwarding proposals to the legislative body.204 The Committee also assumed the function

of oversight on the double majority system (or Batender majority)205 for what concerned the laws

affecting minority rights. As a whole, tts effectiveness has drawn several criticisms, demonstrating

199 See for example: Reuters in Kumanovo, “Violence between Macedonia police and 'terrorists' increases scrutiny of

PM”, The Guardian, May 2015 (available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/11/macedonia-violence-

nikola-gruevski-government). 200 Armend Reka, “The Ohrid Agreement: The Travails of Inter-ethnic Relations in Macedonia”, Human Rights Review,

Vol. 9, No. 1 (2008), 56. 201 Ackermann, supra note 185, 82. 202 Robert Hislope, “Between a Bad Peace and a Good War: Insights and Lessons from the Almost-War in Macedonia”,

Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 26, No.1 (2003), 136. 203 As far as the Committee’s composition is concerned, 7 members are Macedonian MPs, 7 are Albanian MPs and the

rest of the members consist in 1 MP for each the Turkish, Vlach, Romas, Bosniak and Serbian minorities. See:

Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, supra note 178, Amendment XII. 204 Ibid. 205 Drawing its name by the French judge Robert Batender, it defines a voting procedure according to which a piece of

legislation is adopted if it obtains the simple majority of votes over the overall number of MPs in the Parliament, plus a

simple majority of votes of those MPs belonging to minority groups). In case of disputes arising on the voting of laws

affecting the status of minority groups, the Committee is in charge of discussing and resolving the dispute internally,

finally reaching a consensus by a majority vote. The functions and prerogatives of the Committee are specified by the

Law on Inter-Community Relations Committee. See: Law on Inter-Community Relations Committee, December 2007

(available at https://www.sobranie.mk/inter-community-relations-committee.nspx).

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intrinsic weaknesses that made of the Committee more a replica of the Parliament at a smaller scale

than a useful forum of cooperation among ethnic representatives.206

Secondly, Municipalities presenting a high degree of ethnic heterogeneity were endowed of standing

LPCs responsible for the improvement of inter-ethnic relations. As national-mandated I4P, the CICRs

were created to “institutionalize inter-ethnic dialogue”, functioning in a preventive manner vis-à-vis

the surge of inter-ethnic tensions.207 As part of the decentralization process, they were enabled to act

as instruments for strengthening minorities’ participation, and thus their sense of ownership, in the

Municipalities’ decision-making.208 Following Article 55 of the LLSG, any Municipality where at

least 20% of the population belonged to a minority group, had to create a CICR compulsorily.209

Eventually, 20 Municipalities out of 85 were obliged to establish them.210 As far as the CICRs

composition is concerned, ethnic groups existing in the Municipality should count an equal number

of representatives. This specific requirement aims to involve all minority groups in the debate,

regardless of whether they benefit from political representation in the Municipal Council, thus

promoting inter-ethnic dialogue beyond politics. Paragraph 4 of Article 55 deals with outlining the

mandate of the CICRs. These have to handle inter-ethnic issues and questions, by discussing solutions

and forwarding appraisals to the Municipal Council. Here, this latter is obliged to review the

proposals and make a decision.211 Although not explicitly specified in Article 55, Treneska-Deskoska

and other authors212 observe that the CICRs have undertaken functions other than those prescribed

by the law. These ended up including not exclusively all the matters subject to the Batender rule and

specified by Article 41 of the LLSG,213 but also any other question involving inter-ethnic relations,

issues and disputes occurring within the Municipal territory.214 According to Odendaal, one of the

the essential roles is “to defuse potentially harmful rumors and facilitate negotiations between

206 Authors agree on the view that the political tensions existing inside the political institutions majorly reflected in the

Committee, making it incapable of tabling a constructive debate on inter-ethnic issues: See for example: Treneska-

Deskoska, supra note 160, 76-78. For an assessment of the Committee’s effectiveness, see: Petkovski, supra note 159;

Odendaal, supra note 134, 46. 207 Treneska-Deskoska, supra note 160, 85. 208 Sreten Koceski, “Committees for Inter Community Relations – CICR: Establishment, mandate and existing

experiences”, CDI, 2008 (available at https://www.osce.org/skopje/30744?download=true), 5. 209 Law on Local-Self Government, supra note 191, Article 55. 210 Andries Odendaal, “An Architecture for Building Peace at the Local Level: A Comparative Study of Local Peace

Committees”, UNDP, Discussion Paper, 2010 (available at https://www.un.org/en/land-natural-resources-

conflict/pdfs/UNDP_Local%20Peace%20Committees_2011.pdf), 15. 211 Law on Local-Self Government, supra note 191, Article 55. 212 See for example: Treneska-Deskoska, supra note 160; Odendaal, supra note 210. 213 “The regulations referring to culture, use of the languages and alphabets spoken by less than 20% of the citizens in

the Municipality, determining and use of the coat of arms and flag of the Municipality, shall be adopted by the majority

of votes of the present council members, within which there must be a majority of votes of the present council members

belonging to the communities which are not the majority of the population in the Municipality”. See: Law on Local-Self

Government, supra note 191, Article 41. 214 Treneska-Deskoska, supra note 160, 79

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relevant stakeholders”.215 In other words, CICRs should perform as conflict transformation platforms

where community stakeholders engage in constructive discussions and problem-solving. Koceski

highlights that the CICRs can also play a fundamental role in improving inter-community trust and

cooperation, through cultural and social activities.216 On paper, the creation of the CICRs has the

potential to improve inter-ethnic cooperation and facilitate trust-building, thanks to the fact that all

the ethnic groups are ensured with an advocacy platform where they can make sure that their views

are taken into account by other communities as well as by the Municipality. Conflict transformation

capacities are thus enshrined within institutional capacities,217 increasing the outreach of the whole

process as it exists the potential for transforming ethnic demands, together with actions to improve

inter-ethnic relations more broadly, in political responses.

The existing material on the CICRs provides mixed signals. On one side, the CICRs seem to have

proven to be effective in defusing violent escalations between ethnic groups, and facilitating inter-

ethnic dialogue and cooperative relations among communities.218 On the other hand, this evidence

appears somewhat anecdotal.219 A UNDP report from 2010 concluded that, in most Municipalities,

the CICRs had been constituted by the authorities “for the sake of demonstrating that they have done

so”, but these bodies were mostly dysfunctional and often bypassed by local administrations.220

Beyond these assumptions, their actual working capacity 19 years after the conflict in MK, constitutes

the focus of the present study.

3.4 THE POINT ON THE RESEARCH METHOD

The methods usually employed by the exploratory case study methodology are qualitative.

Nevertheless, it has to be conceded that a quantitative analysis could have also been undertaken to

explore the research problem, given the capacity of quantitative assessments to produce cause-effect

descriptions.221 However, both the limited number of existing data on the work of the CICRs and the

outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic, rendered it very complicated to set up an exclusively quantitative

framework for the investigation. On the other hand, a qualitative approach has the potential to

215 Odendaal, supra note 210, 53. 216 One example, organized by the Municipality of Sopishte under the advice of the CICR, is the organization of an

ethnically mixed football league in the city. Koceski, supra note 208, 15. 217 Ibid, 15. 218 Odendaal, supra note 210, 53. 219 Ibid. 220 United Nations Programme to Enhance Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Collaboration, “Results of a Participatory

Assessment National and Local Capacities for Strengthening Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Collaboration”, UNDP,

September 2010 (available at http://mdgfund.org/sites/default/files/UNDP_Participatory_Report_Full_English.pdf), 5. 221 Stake, supra note 168, 37.

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showcase the nuances of the studied phenomenon. Within the exploratory process, the opinions of

key experts on the work of the CICRs were considered intrinsically necessary for providing the

Research Question with a multi-faceted answer, primarily due to their capacity to provide in-depth

narratives about the present conditions. Nevertheless, information (mostly of quantitative nature)

collected from reliable secondary sources was equally employed to supplement the interview data.

This technique denominated ‘triangulation’, relies on the use of multiple sources of evidence to add

breadth to the research and understanding of the phenomenon under question, minimizing

misperception and invalidity of the findings.222 This research method demonstrated to be appropriate

vis-à-vis an embedded case study methodology.223

3.4.1 DATA COLLECTION

The author hence resorted to mixed data collection methods, drawing from both primary and

secondary sources. In this way, the author sought to construct observations as objective and holistic

as possible, avoiding “mere intuition and the good intention to ‘get it right”.224 Triangulating data

delivers more construct validity to the findings, therefore “multiple sources of evidence”225 should be

turned to. The analysis relied first and foremost on one-on-one interviews with informed stakeholders

from within MK. Primary sources were considered valuable to extract meaningful insights and first-

hand experiences, especially considering the hardship in finding information about the key indicators

(described below) of transparency, accessibility, and participation. Additionally, secondary data was

considered to complement and triangulate the knowledge evidenced by the interviews. The author

believed that such data could add value to the evaluation of the findings by providing a marked

quantitative perspective and granting more factuality to the observations. Secondary data were taken

from the academic research of Petkovski, who conducted a quantitative investigation of the CICRs

in 2014,226 and from surveys and reports released by non-governmental entities (CDI, ZELS),227 and

international organizations engaged in MK. These are the Organization for Security and Co-operation

in Europe (OSCE) and the UNDP. These sources span between 2007, year of establishment of most

of the CICRs, and 2018, date of the last survey conducted across Municipalities by the NGO CDI.

222 Scholz & Tietje, supra note 167, 20. 223 Ibid, 14. 224 Stake, supra note 168, 107. 225 The author speaks about evidence from two or more sources but converging on the same set of facts or findings for

triangulation. See: Yin, supra note 162, 83. 226 For reference, see: Petkovski, supra note 159. 227 Mainly produced the Community Development Initiative (CDI), a North Macedonian NGOs that particularly

focused in the las few years on assessing and improving the work of the CICRs. The other source is ZELS, the

association of the units of self-government of North Macedonia. that worked extensively on improving the operativity

of the CIRS.

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3.4.2 INTERVIEWS

For the selection of the participants, the researcher used a purposeful sampling strategy. As Creswell

defines it, “this means that the inquirer selects individuals [..] because they can purposefully inform

an understanding of the research problem and central phenomenon in the study”.228 Since the research

problem at the center of this dissertation aims to shed light on the operativity of the CICRs, the author

considered experts and informed personalities on the functioning of the Councils as ‘purposeful’

participants for the interview process. Such criterion was explicitly outlined within the solicitation e-

mail that was forwarded to any potential candidate, stating that the candidates could deny their

involvement in case of lack of expertise. In the initial idea of the researcher, such a sampling category

could include members of non-governmental bodies working in contact with the CICRs, officials

from governmental organizations engaged in MK, and members of both Municipal Councils and

CICRs themselves. Given the material constraints of the recruitment procedure due to the pandemic,

no other selection criteria were set. This latter assumed that the interviewed people answered the

questions honestly.

The recruiting strategy occurred by online solicitation between February and May 2020. The process

began with sending an informative e-mail describing the study purposes and the contribution that

participants could make. Afterward, fundamental for the advancement in the recruitment procedure

was the utilization of first contacts’ networks for reaching further potential candidates. Eventually,

the number of recruited participants was not highly satisfactory due to the hardship generated by the

Covid-19 outbreak. The author managed to conduct seven semi-structured interviews with purposeful

stakeholders. The researcher carried out three semi-structured interviews with officials from

international organizations and four semi-structured interviews with exponents of civil society

organizations. The choice of resorting to multiple interviews with stakeholders territorially diffused

in MK rather than focusing on a single Municipality served the exploratory purposes of the embedded

case study methodology, seeking to construct a comprehensive state of play capable of gathering

altogether elements that may differ from one Municipal context to the other. In this way, the risk of

undermining the exhaustiveness of the analysis, by focusing solely on one Municipality, was partially,

although not totally, reduced. On the other side, the risk of disregarding specificities of the various

units of analysis is evident and makes part of the limitations to the present research.

228 John W. Creswell, Qualitative Enquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, 2007, 125.

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The interviews took place via Skype during the first half of May 2020. The participants were provided

with the Questionnaire and the Informed Consent Form describing the envisioned protection of

confidentiality at least one week in advance. All data was maintained under protected conditions.

Only the researcher had direct access to them. Confidentiality was ensured at all times. Upon

completion of the dissertation, all maintained information will be destroyed. For confidentiality

purposes, the author agreed separately with each participant on the suitable naming for the

presentation of the findings. Officials of international organizations explicitly demanded of being

referred to anonymously. Thus, these were named Official 1, 2, and 3. The two representatives of the

Center for Inter-Cultural Dialogue (CID), a Kumanovo-based NGO, also asked for the omission of

their names. Hence, they were referred to as CID Member 1 and 2. The other participants, Sreten

Koceski and Ardita Mehmeti229 agreed on the explicit use of their full names and titles. The

documents used for the interviews can be found in Annex A and B: Informed Interviews

Questionnaire, Informed Consent Form.

3.4.3 DATA ANALYSIS

All the interviews were recorded by using the dedicated tool provided by Skype. Consequently, the

interviews were transcribed in different Word documents and examined to detect thematic

commonalities following the framework or thematic analysis approach.230 The author employed such

a method to process and catalog the corpus of information into thematic sections, to support the

operations of classification and summarization. The thematic analysis was also employed because it

permits achieving better clarity and cohesion in data exposition to the readers. Through the analysis,

the author highlighted common and contrasting trends derived by the experiences of the different

participants. In the first place, the author reviewed the interviews’ transcripts to detect “recurring

regularities”,231 by highlighting quotes that could be significant. Following the structure of the

interviews’ questions, thematic categories emerged. Such aggregated information was brought

together with data originating from the review of secondary sources to highlight relationships across

the data sources, testing the emerging thematic categories against the data.232 In this way, the author

sought to construct an analysis as objective as possible, triangulating participants’ opinions with

evidence from secondary sources. Lastly, so-created ‘themes’ were refined and solidified.

229 Sreten Koceski is the Director of the NGO Community Development Initiative; Ardita Mehmeti is the Deputy

Director of the CSO ZELS. See: supra note 227. 230 Beverley Hancock, Trent Focus for Research and Development in Primary Health Care: An Introduction to

Qualitative Research, 1998, 17. 231 Sharan B. Merriam, Qualitative research and case study applications in education, 1998, 180. 232 Ibid.

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3.4.4 KEY INDICATORS

Given the scarcity of information in this respect, the interviews sought to investigate three key aspects

capable of providing an incisive perspective on the CICRs as effective I4P. Giessmann underlines

that I4P, considered fully-fledged institutions, are likely to be successful and offer “a space for

sustainable collaborative relations” if they are based on three key “indicators”:233 transparency,

accessibility, participation. Such components are fundamental to ensure legitimacy and sustainability

to the work of I4P, by fostering confidence-building across society sectors towards the established

bodies. It is a specific interest of this dissertation to analyze these elements as a way to stimulate

further discussions and research opportunities in their respect. Before proceeding, it is necessary to

clarify the use that the author made of these indicators. The researcher did not employ them with a

determinist perspective, namely to determine the success or not of the CICRs. Instead, these were

handled as analytical tools to grasp nuances of the CICRs in light of the I4P theory as foreseen by the

exploratory methodology. The researcher considered that they could finally provide useful guidance

about which areas of improvement deserve particular attention. Usually, these components are

regarded as indicators of good governance quality, and our elaboration drew exactly from this sphere

since Giessmann lacks in providing guidelines in defining them.

First and foremost, to consider transparency, the author resorted to the formulation made by Bauhr

and Grimes. They frame this indicator as “the availability of, and feasibility for actors both internal

and external to State operations to access and disseminate information relevant to evaluating

institutions, both in terms of rules, operations as well as outcomes”.234 Put it shortly, transparency

lies in the capacity of institutions to openly provide information to the public. The possibility that

external stakeholders can easily gain access to such information guarantees accountability and

prevents distrust.235 Bauhr and Grimes provide three key dimensions to measure transparency:

government (or institutional) openness, whistleblower protection, and publicity. Leaving alone the

third component236 on the basis of the scarce interest in the relation between the CICRs and the media,

the researcher focused on the first two. ‘Institutional openness’ refers to the facility of access to

information,237 while ‘whistleblower protection’ exposes the degree of vulnerability of

233 Giessmann, supra note 15, 15. 234 Monika Bauhr & Marcia Grimes, “New Measures and Relevance for Quality of Government”, The Quality of

Government Institute, Working Paper, 2012 (available at

https://qog.pol.gu.se/digitalAssets/1418/1418047_2012_16_bauhr_grimes.pdf), 5. 235 Ibid, 2. 236 Publicity is defined by Bauhr and Grimes as “the extent to which detected improprieties actually stand a reasonable

chance to reach the public and relevant stakeholders”, and it is connected to press freedom and newspaper circulation.

Ibid, 9-10. 237 Ibid, 7-8.

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whistleblowers.238 This latter dimension is fundamental to verify the likelihood of disclosing power

abuses and wrongdoings externally.239 In the present investigation, the author hence examined both

the degree of openness of information for what regards the election procedures, mandate and work

outputs of the CICRs, as well as the degree of vulnerability of possible whistleblowers.

Accessibility as a dimension of governance is usually connected to a physical determination (e.g.

accessibility of disabled people to buildings), or a rather diverse type of accessibility of economic

nature to public services such as healthcare or education. The OECD asserts that “the impact of basic

public goods and services [..] depends significantly on the extent to which intended recipients are

able to access”, and that “services can be considered a performance criterion for governments,

reflecting their capacities to accurately recognize the diversity and nature of different needs, create

and tailor delivery and communication channels accordingly, and ensure equity and fairness in

delivery and distribution”.240 Accessible services should be reactive vis-a-vis differentiated needs as

well as be available to anyone. Therefore, the CICRs were considered in the same way as services,

hence exploring their degree of accessibility for residents. The accessibility component can determine

the reactivity of the CICRs in responding to direct needs of the community as well as enhance the

principles of representation and community empowerment. One of the primary purposes of the

decentralization process in MK was to narrow the gap between governance institutions and

marginalized segments of the population, guaranteeing enhanced accessibility to local governance.

Two angles were considered for the investigation. The first had to do with the possibility for citizens

to indiscriminately access to a seat inside the CICRs, while the second looked upon the existence of

mechanisms for residents to bring issues directly under the attention of the CICRs.

As far as the participation component is concerned, the author employed an exhaustive definition

provided by Ricciardelli. Participation “refers to the citizens’ capacity of engaging in public

management affairs […] by taking part in decision-making that would ultimately respond more

proactively to citizen concerns”.241 By granting citizens the opportunity to participate in shaping their

own destinies, participation is a powerful tool to strengthen representativeness, ownership, and

238 Whistleblowers are inside members responsible for reporting wrongdoings and power abuses to the public or the

press. The more the whistleblowers are likely to suffer repercussions for reporting such misdoings externally, the less

the institution in question can be defined as transparent. See: Ibid, 9. 239 Ibid. 240 OECD, “Government at a Glance”, OECD Publishing, 2013 (available at https://www.oecd-

ilibrary.org/docserver/gov_glance-2013-

en.pdf?expires=1588611088&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=95F5EB45D2611CD9934C182A8C5A1BDB), 150. 241 Alessandra Ricciardelli, Governance, Local Communities, and Citizens Participation, in: Ali Farazmand (ed.),

Global Encyclopedia for Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance, 2017, 1.

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accountability. Therefore, the research attempt to investigate the involvement of citizens in the

decision-making and electoral processes of the CICRs.

The exploration of these aspects of the CICRs resulted in useful insights for reflecting on their state

as effective I4P. Also, it opened up opportunities for fostering research on these indicators.

3.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The main limitation of the present study originates from the very nature of the methodological

approach. A case study is, by definition, particularistic and contextual, therefore rendering the

findings hard to meet a wider generalization to the broader population. Nevertheless, generalization

is not an objective of the research. The author is convinced that by outlining challenges, and proposing

solutions, to the unique case of the CICRs, a contribution to expanding the literature research on I4P

can be made and ulterior research opportunities can be paved. This dissertation wants to offer a

limited level of generalization that is based on treating the CICRs as an example of LPCs with a

peacebuilding mandate at the grassroots. The exploration of the challenges affecting the working

capacity of the CICRs can lead to further research, as well as policy improvement, on how to best

design I4P at the local level to effectively pursue peacebuilding objectives.

Another important limitation weighs on the methodology and methods employed for collecting data.

Such constraint was conferred by employing the embedded case study methodology together with the

material impossibility of conducting a large number of interviews with key stakeholders from a

broader spectrum of Municipalities. This reduced the scope of the research outcomes further, omitting

salient differences and variables among CICRs of different Municipalities. The units of analysis were

considered holistically without emphasizing comparative assessments. However, this methodological

limitation to the exhaustiveness of the collected data is defendable on the ground of the impossibility

to conduct field research in MK, as initially planned. The author made every effort to expand the

network of stakeholders that could take part in the interview process, by contacting via e-mail nearly

20 interlocutors. However, the sole counting on electronic communications, as well as the chaotic

situation generated by the pandemic in MK, obstructed the recruitment process, and weakened the

exhaustiveness of the research findings.

This Chapter aimed to outline the research design chosen to answer the Research Question. The goal

of Chapter 4 is to provide a framework analysis to present the investigation results.

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4) RESEARCH RESULTS

This Chapter presents the investigation results. By analyzing the information provided by

interviewees and triangulating it with data extracted from secondary sources, valuable information

was gathered regarding CICRs’ current condition, challenges to mandate implementation and specific

aspects of their working operationality with respect to transparency, accessibility, and participation.

The analysis is organized into three main thematic sections, corresponding to the three strands of the

Research Question, and reflected within the backbone of the interviews. Starting from the hypothesis

that the CICRs are mostly inoperative and unable to fulfill their premises, Theme 1 answered the first

sub-question; To what extent the CICRs contributed to improving the status of inter-ethnic relations

in the Municipalities where they were established? Theme 2 addressed the second sub-question; What

are the main obstacles to the proper functioning of the CICRs? However, the leading interest of the

investigation aimed at assessing the status of the CICRs as effective I4P. Following Giessmann,242

the CICRs should contemplate critical features to operate as effective peacebuilding fora. Theme 3

addressed the last research sub-question; How the principles of transparency, accessibility, and

participation are observed in the structure and functioning of the CICRs?

4.1 THEME 1: CICRs AND LOCAL INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS

Six out of seven respondents highlighted how the CICRs had a very low or no impact on inter-ethnic

relations improvement. Official 1 described it as “very negligible”, asserting that the CICRs have

never been perceived as incisive organs. Likewise, Official 2 stated: “CICRs have not demonstrated

to fulfill the purpose of their existence”, having “no substantial impact on inter-ethnic relations”.

Three NGO members agreed that, while during the first years after their establishment, the CICRs

had played some role “at least institutionally”, in solving inter-ethnic tensions, their current impact is

minimal. However, their justifications slightly differ. Sreten Koceski243 asserted that since “they do

not get together, do not have meetings and do not function”, there is “no argument to say that they

are contributing somehow” to improve inter-ethnic relations at the Municipal level. CID Member 1

justified their opinion about “little or no effect” on the basis that the CICRs “represent an

improvement in the legislation in terms of integration of the different communities”, but “they do not

have put in practice what they envisioned”. CID Member 2 held: “to some extent, they [CICRs] have

242 Giessmann, supra note 15, 15. 243 Director of the Community Development Initiative, see: supra note 227 & 229.

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improved the status of inter-ethnic relations” as they “gave their contribution within the Municipal

Council when topics about the two communities [Albanian and Macedonian] went hot”, thus “we

cannot neglect their work”. They then referred that the diminished intensity of their work can

nowadays be partially attributed to the reduced number of inter-ethnic disputes between communities.

However, they continued saying that their current focus should be on “how to improve and give inputs

in the relations between the communities”, whereas they are failing in doing so. Ardita Mehmeti244

was the only participant to respond affirmatively to the question. She outlined that the CICRs “played

and still play an important role in building, maintaining and improving the inter-ethnic relations not

only between Albanian and Macedonian ethnic communities but also all other communities”, thanks

to “their tremendous impact on local policies”. The results of a 2018 Survey reflect the scarce

engagement of the CICRs to the broader improvement of inter-ethnic relations. The 11 CICRs

meetings held in 2018 across 19 Municipalities hardly focused on incisive topics for inter-ethnic

coexistence at large, dealing instead with limited-impact issues (e.g. renaming the schools in

Municipality of Debar,).245 Furthermore, although some participants pointed to the fact that the CICRs

had been more active in the past (immediately post-2007), the 2010 UNDP Report signals that most

topics of CICRs competence were already directed to political leaders by then, bypassing the

Commissions.246 Likewise, Petkovski’s research evidence had underlined the irresponsiveness of

CICRs to events that risked to deteriorate inter-ethnic relations.247

When describing the upstream causes of such poor performance, five participants noted that the

CICRs lack visibility. In other words, citizens are not aware of their existence, and thus the CICRs

fail to be recognized as reliable bodies. For instance, Official 1 pointed out: “there is little knowledge

among the population about what a CICR is and its functions”. Evidence also emerged from both the

OSCE Analytical Report on the Decentralization Process248 and the Report on the Implementation of

the Ohrid Framework Agreement in the Republic of Macedonia.249 Based upon several interviews

with citizens, this latter reported that “many citizens are neither aware that their municipality is

obliged to establish a CICR”.250

244 Deputy Director of ZELS, see: Ibid. 245 OSCE & CDI, Комисии за односи меѓу заедниците - Резултати од прашалник, November 2018 (unpublished

Questionnaire Results). 246 United Nations Programme to Enhance Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Collaboration, supra note 220, 5,7. 247 Petkovski, supra note 159, 148-149. 248 OSCE Mission to Skopje, “Analytical Report on the Decentralization Process”, osce.org, September 2014 (available

at https://www.osce.org/skopje/231581?download=true), 89. 249 Survey among the population and study conducted in 2012 by the Community Development Initiative, see below. 250 Community Development Initiative, “Report on the Implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement in the

Republic of Macedonia- Perceptions of the citizens at the local level”, CDI, 2012 (Unpublished Report), 8, 14.

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Some participants reported a general improvement of inter-ethnic relations at the Municipal level in

MK. This positive trend seems to find confirmation in the OSCE data from 2009, showing that the

majority of citizens (78%) evaluated the status on inter-ethnic relations in their Municipalities

positively, against a minority (13%) of negative marks.251 In the words of Official 1: “since the end

of the conflict, inter-ethnic relations experienced ups and downs”, however, “if there is something

that has improved inter-ethnic relations in a substantial way, I would not say these have been the

CICRs”.

To sum up, although inter-ethnic relations in MK relatively improved over time, the role played by

CICRs in this process appears fairly limited. Even the participants that provided a partial or total

positive view on the role of the CICRs did not provide specific examples to support their opinions,

externalizing a tangible difficulty in framing their role in detail. A partial explanation of this low

impact is linked with the poor visibility of the CICRs to the public, signaling a lack of inclusion of

grassroots communities within CICRs scope. Even if the CICRs had more significance at an early

stage, their recent activity hugely diminished in terms of intensity. The 2018 Survey reports that only

6 of the 17 Municipalities responding held CICRs meetings during the same year. Among these, only

2 CICRs submitted opinions to the Municipal Council, but in 0 cases this latter answered to the

proposals.252

4.2 THEME 2: CHALLENGES OF THE CICRs

Six respondents reported the lack of independence from political parties’ influence among the most

burdening challenges to the CICRs’ proper functioning. Official 1 referred that the CICRs were “very

much subjected to political dynamics at the local level”, for which “it becomes very difficult for a

representative to be totally independent by its party affiliation”. Likewise, CID Member 1 talked

about “a high level of intervention of the political parties within the local administration”. Another

evidence of the existence of political impediments to the work of the CICRs was traced by some

participants in the discontinuity of the CICRs work. Once the 4-years mandate of the respective

Municipal Council ends, a new CICR is formed. The high politicization of the CICRs was a recurrent

topic both throughout the interviews and within all the secondary sources analyzed.253 The Survey

251 OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, “Decentralization Survey”, osce.org, December 2009 (available at

https://www.osce.org/skopje/41048), 54. 252 In 2015 it also had been 0, while in 2014 solely two proposals from the CICRs had been finally accepted by their

respective Municipal Councils. See: OSCE & CDI, supra note 245. 253 OSCE Spillover Monitoring Mission to Skopje, supra note 251, 89; Community Development Initiative, supra note

250, 10.

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reported that 8 out of the 19 Municipalities answering had CICRs solely composed by political

parties’ representatives.254 Political influence was majorly detected in the election of CICRs

members, but this specific subject is further developed below.

The lack of budget was appointed by most of the interviewees as another great weakness. According

to CID Member 2: “one thing which is an obstacle is that the members are working on a voluntary

basis so they are not receiving any financial support, so everything that they will do, like any meeting

or anything, will be just voluntarily and will not be paid for them, and having in mind that these are

the people who are at the same time working 8 hours somewhere else, it is natural that they will focus

more time on their job rather than be very much devoted on many issues and to go deeper in any

things that the Commission can do”. Ardita Mehmeti concurred that CICRs “do not have financial

support from Municipal budget and therefore no financial compensation is provided for their

engagement”. At the same time, Official 1 mentioned: “generic legislation exists foreseeing the

financing of the CICRs activities, that however poses no obligations. Therefore, the CICRs also

possess reduced resources to act independently”. The lack of financial support appears to be a

permanent issue over the years. In 2014, Petkovski accounted that only 3 out of the 33 existing CICRs

were receiving economic support from the Municipality.255 In the Survey, only 2 out of 19

Municipalities were allocating funds to the CICRs.256

Sreten Koceski and Official 3 gave primary significance to the existence of insurmountable “gaps in

the law”, for which “the Municipal authorities can easily bypass the legislation and put aside the

CICRs”. Koceski linked it to the lack of “political will” to improve the legislation and CICRs’

working capacity. He appeared rather pessimist when outlining the reasons behind the lack of will

from political authorities, saying that this would “mean that the decisions cannot be made between

two or three people, but the wider community will be consulted”. The absence of support by “Mayor

and Municipal Council”, was also considered a significant impediment by Official 2. The OSCE

Decentralization Report confirmed the scarce consideration that Municipal authorities have for the

CICRs, reporting that 60% of the Municipalities surveyed had responded with ‘sometimes’ to the

question about how often the CICRs opinions were considered when deciding upon inter-ethnic

issues.257

254 The result accounted for 45% of the total responses. See: OSCE & CDI, supra note 245. 255 Petkovski, supra note 159, 146. 256 OSCE & CDI, supra note 245. 257 OSCE Mission to Skopje, supra note 248, 84.

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It stands out that the CICRs took existence in a highly politicized context. The participants put great

emphasis on this point, in many instances returning to this subject throughout the interview and

connecting other issues to the lack of independence from political authorities. This latter gap seemed

to reflect on other problems raised by the participants. Another substantial challenge is the absence

of funds for financing CICRs functioning, together with the lack of technical and administrative

support received by the Municipal authorities. Some participants put paramount emphasis on the fact

that the current legislation suffers from considerable gaps, allowing Municipal authorities to bypass

the existence and proper functioning of the CICRs. A non-recurrent issue mentioned by some

participants is the lack of technical capacities owned by CICRs members to perform their functions

effectively.

4.3 THEME 3: KEY INDICATORS

The respondents were finally asked to express their opinions on three key characteristics of the CICRs

structure and functioning: transparency, accessibility, and participation. Consequently, the section is

structured into three parts.

4.3.1 TRANSPARENCY

The participants’ answers regarding the transparency of the CICRs gave mixed signals, while

secondary sources258 pointed to it as a major issue. Most of the respondents addressed the questions

focusing more on the fact that the citizens are neither informed nor interested in the work of the

CICRs. Hence, although information is or could be made public by the CICRs, citizens are not

interested in gaining access to it. For instance, Official 1 commented: “I believe that it is not difficult

to obtain information on the work, but there is actually little knowledge of the CICRs existence”. CDI

Citizens Survey indicated the transparency gap as a main concern for many citizens, especially about

the decision-making, allocation of funds, and database activities of the CICRs.259

Regarding the transparency in the election of CICRs constituents, participants outlined a significant

gap. The interviewees showed little awareness themselves of the selection criteria in their respective

Municipalities. For instance, CID Member 1 stated: “I do not know how they are selected in my city

because usually that goes to the City Council”. On the same line, most respondents indicated that the

nominations of CICRs members lie entirely in the hands of the Municipal authorities. Among these,

258 See: OSCE Mission to Skopje, supra note 248, 89; OSCE & CDI, supra note 245. 259 Community Development Initiative, supra note 250, 9.

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Official 2 asserted: “transparency of the election is to a big extent left to the discretion of the Mayor,

just like the procedure for election/publishing of the call”. Sreten Koceski declared: “in 90% of

Municipalities they do not actually set criteria [..] between 10 and 20% they ‘we have criteria’, but

they do not respect them”. OSCE findings also confirm the issue of members election in a non-

transparent way. Only 20% of the Municipalities surveyed declared to follow the proposals from

village councils, leaving 80% of the CICRs with unclear election procedures.260 Similar results were

obtained by Petkovski.261

About the CICRs mandate, interviewees seemed to interpret it in different ways. Ardita Mehmeti

declared: “the work of the CICRs is regulated by the municipal statutes. This is a public document;

it can be easily found on the Municipality official web page”. However, this was contrasted by CID

Member 2: “most of the time, Municipalities’ statutes are not very clear or precise. For example, in

Kumanovo, it only states how many people would be within the CICR, and that is it”. Koceski

affirmatively stated: “it is written in the law; there are policy papers, policy briefs. It is clear what

they should do”. Similarly, CID Member 2 declared that “legally you can find most of the things

related to their mandate, like the duration of it or how they are chosen”. However, on the specific role

of the CICRs at the Municipal level, “It is very hard to find a specific document, and for the citizens

to find out more about their mandate”. The lack of clarity of mandate was appointed by Petkovski as

one of CICRs’ major issues.262

The perceptions of the respondents on the transparency of CICRs decision-making process and

outputs majorly aligned. Participants’ views are better resumed in the words of CID Member 1: “The

decisions are most of the time visible, but the process is not visible”. The transcripts of CICRs

meetings and voting sessions are not directly made public. However, interviewees agreed that

potentially any citizen could request and obtain them from the Municipal archive. Participants’

perception is confirmed by the Survey, in which 12 of 16 Municipalities declared to keep a detailed

archival work of CICRs activities.263 However, Official 2 reported that “almost no municipality

publishes minutes from the CICRs meetings on the web and in this way, citizens cannot get timely

and relevant information”.

260 OSCE Mission to Skopje, supra note 248, 83. 261 Out of 33 Commissions, Petkovski had found out that in the majority of cases the political authorities of the

Municipality had exclusive saying on the appointment of CICRs members. Petkovski, supra note 159, 146. 262 Ibid, 144. 263 OSCE & CDI, supra note 245.

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CID Members stated that the decisions of the CICRs are made public through the Municipal Council’s

meetings and the Official Gazette. In the case of Kumanovo, they spoke about the possibility of

updates about CICRs activities through their dedicated page on the Municipality website and the

official Facebook page of the Commission. However, in CID Member 2’s opinion: “transparency

should be improved since we are living in the 21st century, most of the things could be published

online”, adding that “the CICR has its section on the Municipality website but you cannot find much

information about it in that”.

The feedback participants shared on the transparency aspects of the CICRs is mixed. The issue of

visibility of the CICRs was again given paramount importance, raised in multiple instances by four

participants. Transparency gaps were detected at the level of CICRs members’ nomination. The

mandate of the CICRs is another grey area, although few participants pointed to the body of laws

regulating the CICRs. Respondents reported discrete transparency in matter of decision-making.

Overall, according to the research sample we have, the CICRs seem to suffer to some extent from a

transparency problem, as confirmed by multiple secondary sources. As a confirmation of this, none

of the participants could recall any case of whistleblowing. Both CID Member 2 and Koceski

confirmed that issues are usually solved internally while keeping a clean public face.

4.3.2 ACCESSIBILITY

Participants were mostly negative regarding accessibility, and only one of them reported a positive

view about it. Four interviewees referred to political influence as the main obstacle to the free

accessibility to CICRs membership. Koceski was one of these, stating: “it is always political

representatives, even when you find some reports that say yes ‘we made it in public, NGOs

proposed…’, in practice, behind the curtains, it is only a political decision”. Official 1 concurred: “to

be a representative of these bodies, you need some kind of political connection at the local level so

that the limit to the accessibility of citizens is given by political affiliation or relationships with the

political representatives in power in the Municipality”. Likewise, CID Member 1 noted that political

influence made of the CICRs “an environment that is not open to those people the CICRs were

envisioned for”. Official 3 also agreed, stating: “potential candidates do not run for office, they are

usually appointed by the Mayor or municipal council”. CID Member 1 added: “credibility in front of

the political parties” (through the confirmation of the Municipal authorities) is a fundamental factor

for selecting CICRs members. Divergently, Ardita Mehmeti noted: “the call for the selection of the

members of the CICRs is open for all interested citizens. Here, I see the problem in the lack of interest

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and motivation to be part of this body, and this is one of the reasons why the members of CICRs are

coming mainly from municipal councils”.

Almost none of the respondents considered ethnicity as a discriminatory factor, reporting the general

respect of the principle of equitable representation of ethnic groups. Nevertheless, secondary sources

report a different situation. In fact, the principle of equitable representation envisioned by the LLSG

is not respected in several CICRs, and some minority groups are underrepresented.264 Sreten Koceski

explained: “in some municipalities dominant ethnicities can put more representatives from their own

ethnicities, and less from the others”.

About reporting issues directly to CICRs assemblies, five respondents asserted the lack of formal

mechanisms through which citizens can report to the CICRs. Instead, they signaled the possibility to

resort to informal channels, by personally contacting CICRs members. However, three participants

expressed a somewhat negative view of the possibility that citizens can effectively bring any instance

in front of the Commissions. For example, Official 2 noted: “starting from the fact that the contacts

of the CICRs members are rarely published on the Municipal websites, I consider that accessibility

of ‘normal’ citizens is rather limited”. Conversely, two respondents judged accessibility positively.

CID Member 2 noted the possibility of attending CICRs meetings as a working accessibility channel

at citizens’ disposal. Ardita Mehmeti offered a different perspective: “there are a legal provision and

mechanism for submitting any complaint, proposal and other initiatives. Therefore, the accessibility

is not really an issue here”. She instead denoted the lack of proactivity by the citizens.

Accessibility to the CICRs represents an issue in participants’ views. Despite some positive

experiences, most interviewees noted the lack of accessible processes for both running for a seat and

reporting an issue to CICRs’ attention. Political affiliation plays a significant role in nominating

CICRs members, while ethnicity does not constitute a problem for most interviewees. However,

secondary sources outline issues of underrepresentation of minorities in some CICRs. Finally, directly

reporting to the CICRs is a major issue. Even the informal channels considered by some respondents

are difunctional according to the majority of the interviewees. Secondary sources lack data in this

respect.

264 See: CDI & ZELS, “Implementation of the Principle of Adequate and Equitable Representation”, ZELS, November

2013 (available at

http://www.zels.org.mk/Upload/Content/Documents/Dokumenti/EN/2014/Adequate%20and%20equitable%20represent

ation.pdf), 80; OSCE Mission to Skopje, supra note 248, 88; OSCE & CDI, supra note 245.

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4.3.3 PARTICIPATION

All the 7 respondents interviewed in this research had negative considerations of the possibility that

citizens can participate in any way in the work of the CICRs.

All participants agreed that participation in the selection of CICRs members is very minimal or non-

existent, with the process relying mostly on political authorities. On this point, Official 2 declared:

“the procedure electing CICR members is not standardized in the country and includes a big portion

of discretion by the Municipal management”. CID Members concurred that “a limited or small group

of people” can participate in proposing possible members to the Municipality. However, CID

Member 1 stated: “proposing does not mean decision making, so it is really not participation because

if you propose does not mean that those people will be elected”. Ardita Mehmeti added: “there are

some examples when the candidates are proposed by local communities on citizens gatherings, but

these are rare examples”. The Survey reports that only 5 of the 20 responding Municipalities

envisioned some consultative mechanism, such as public call or consultation with CSOs.265 In other

cases, the selection of CICRs lay utterly in the hands of the Municipal authorities.

Participants displayed akin views regarding citizens’ possibility to take part in the CICRs decision-

making process. Nearly all the interviewees provided a negative answer or refrained from answering.

For instance, Official 3 asserted: “there are no clear provisions concerning citizens’ participation in

formulating opinions by CIRCs”. The sole divergent answer was provided by Ardita Mehmeti,

saying: “the members of the CICRs are obliged to consult the communities that they represent, this

is often conducted by citizens gatherings, individual contacts, media”. On this issue, Sreten Koceski

contrasted: “Usually, it is advised to CICRs members to go and talk to the members of their

community [..] But they do not do it.” The CDI Survey reports that no cases have been noted in which

the CICRs consulted citizens.266 Overall, participation shows to be a sore subject for the CICRs.

Answers from participants provided an overall negative overview of both the aspects of participation

explored, corroborated by secondary evidence.

This Chapter presented the results of the 7 interviews conducted with expert stakeholders, and their

triangulation with secondary data. This is followed by a discussion of the results, seeking to highlight

key points revealed by the CICRs case study.

265 OSCE & CDI, supra note 245. 266 Community Development Initiative, supra note 250, 9.

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5) DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS

Chapter 4 displayed the results of the research. What follows includes their discussion, facilitated by

resorting to the I4P literature to reflects on the shortcomings of the CICRs. Ultimately,

recommendations to overcome the challenges faced by the CICRs will be advanced.

5.1 INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS

Odendaal asserts that the added value of LPCs is the creation of institutionalized channels for

dialogue among community sections.267 In turn, dialogue fosters social cohesion, joint problem-

solving, and trust-building at the local level.268 LPCs own then the potential to improve socio-political

relations in locally divided communities. In MK, no institutionalized mechanism enabling

constructive dialogue among communities existed before 2001. Thus, the CICRs represent a

groundbreaking development in this respect.269 Municipalities established these Councils in the hope

that they could enhance inter-ethnic relations in their local settings.270 The CICRs were to act as

peacebuilding fora to handle issues arising between communities,271 supporting inter-ethnic

coexistence,272 hence contributing to the peaceful development of the North Macedonian society.273

Feedback received by participants showed that the CICRs poorly managed to enhance inter-ethnic

relations in the Municipalities where they were created. Various reasons were appointed to explain

their scarce performance, such as the lack of visibility in the community, and their relegation from

Municipal authorities. CID Member 2, speaking about Kumanovo, referred to the issue that the local

CICR was mainly directing its action at organizing cultural activities with a minimal impact on the

wider inter-ethnic relations in the city. Respondents concurred that the CICRs are only established

“on paper” in many Municipalities, providing no actual platform to foster peaceful relations.

Secondary data confirmed participants’ negative opinions, showing the clear bypassing of the CICRs

at the hands of Municipal authorities. Although the CICRs have been effective in few instances in

defusing inter-ethnic tensions, as some participants and secondary sources reported,274 they got

267 Odendaal, supra note 210, 7, 11. 268 Ibid, 12. 269 Ibid, 11. 270 Petkovski, supra note 159, 142. 271 Lyon, supra note 160, 36. 272 Odendaal, supra note 210, 51. 273 Koceski, supra note 208, 5. 274 For example, see: Odendaal, supra note 210, 53; Koceski, supra note 208.

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overall sidelined by Municipal authorities, failing to deal with the improvement of inter-ethnic

relations more broadly.

Even if the broader level of inter-ethnic relations in MK demonstrated signs of progress since the

2001 violence, the research findings bring little evidence allowing to ascribe such advancement to

the existence of the CICRs. The gathered evidence confirms that the CICRs played only sporadically

a decisive role as institutionalized channels of dialogue to handle inter-ethnic issues nonviolently.

Their limited outreach towards engaging and being known by the population stands out as a major

flaw at the core of their inconsistency. However, respondents demonstrated to be deeply convinced

that the CICRs could still play a crucial role both at the local and at the national level if the challenges

affecting their functioning were overcome once and for all.

5.2 GAPS OF THE CICRs

In the domain of top-down I4P,275 Giessmann mentions that the “political influence of the government

or ruling actors on the design and implementation of I4P”276 represents a critical problematic risking

to tamper their effectivity. Similarly, Odendaal highlights that “the more the process is imposed

externally, the weaker the LPC’s capacity to serve peace”.277 In other words, securing “local buy-in”

and ownership over national-mandated I4P is fundamental to ensure their effectiveness at the local

level. In this respect, six out of seven participants listed the control exerted by political authorities as

the major challenge faced by the CICRs. Interviewees mentioned politicization as a distinctive

element of the whole North Macedonian context. The CICRs have not managed to escape the same

logic. For instance, Official 1 reported: “the level of politicization in MK is very high, and it defines

everything in the country [..] political affiliation is what counts the most”. Findings from different

sources concurred that the CICRs suffer from political interference at many levels. This reflects in

the way CICRs members are elected, who can win a seat within the assembly and how much the

CICRs can be independent in their work. Such a feature comes in stark contrast with the fact that I4P

should “be guided by bipartisanship and independence”.278

Following Odendaal, excluding local communities from decisions concerning top-down LPCs could

make of these a total failure.279 The CICRs were established as a consequence of the peace process

275 I4P equipped with a national mandate, also called “formal” or top-down I4P. 276 Giessmann, supra note 15, 17. 277 Odendaal, supra note 210, 14. 278 van Tongeren, supra note 102, 98. 279 Odendaal, supra note 210, 14.

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without attention to consult and engage local communities on their nature and structure, thus

excluding space for local ownership.280 The LLSG left room for maneuver to Municipalities on the

specific statutes of each CICR. However, findings show that this margin was exploited by local

politicians to establish CICRs devoid of a clear framework of rules and procedures. Subsequently,

their composition and work became increasingly subdued to Municipal political authorities, further

ruling out local communities’ direct ownership, if not by indirect participation through the election

of local political representatives. The lack of both political independence and community-shared

ownership generated distrust and disregard of the population at large, as the CICRs failed to be seen

as incisive fora devoted to promoting dialogue among ethnic communities. Inevitably, instead of a

“non-threatening social space where dialogue, consensus-building and problem-solving can take

place”,281 the CICRs became a further arena for political confrontation. The CICRs prove to have

fallen victim to one common problem of top-down I4P,282 namely the imposition of a mandate that,

due to political manipulation, is incapable of giving an effective address to local ownership. For most

of the respondents, achieving independence from political authorities is seen as the top priority to

improve CICRs operativity.

Odendaal asserts that funds should be secured to LPCs to cover a whole range of expenses.283

Additionally, he highlights the necessity of “technical backup”, namely the “ access to people who

know the basic principles of peace processes, and who have the skills to help all participants

implement them”.284 Research findings indicate the lack of financial resources as a chief obstacle to

the functioning of the CICRs. As a matter of fact, only a limited number of CICRs show to dispose

of a budget. Without compensation, CICRs members have to work voluntarily, thus undertaking

CICRs’ responsibilities concomitantly with other work priorities. Besides, CICRs lack finances for

both necessary tasks (e.g. field visits) and the implementation of specific activities (e.g. cultural

events). Furthermore, participants pointed to the lack of technical expertise of the CICRs members,

undermining their capacity to implement effective strategies and actions. CID Member 1 noted: “the

building of their [CICRs members] capacity in terms of how to write a strategy, how to communicate

with people, how to aggregate the relevant information needed for the strategy should be improved”.

Overall, the CICRs seems to be lacking with respect to the points made by Odendaal. The absence of

280 Ibid. 281 Andries Odendaal & Retief Olivier, “Local Peace Committees: Some Reflections and Lessons Learned”, NTTP,

2008 (available at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/51c2/273a7977c7dbbb7a5985db6d3a19016383dc.pdf), 5. 282 Ibid, 14. 283 Such as for activities undertaken, material needs (e.g. offices) and training of the LPCs members: Odendaal, supra

note 210, 17. 284 In other words, LPCs members should be familiar with peacebuilding concepts and skills. See: Ibid, 16.

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technical, financial, and administrative support is a significant obstacle to their effective action since

CICRs members are both technically unprepared and materially incapacitated to develop thoughtful

efforts to improve relations among ethnic communities.

Upstream of the described problems, some respondents stressed the existence of significant “gaps in

the law”, reason why lack of clarity persisted within the legislative framework (LLSG) regulating the

CICRs, hence allowing Municipal authorities to bypass and sideline them. For instance, Koceski

insisted: “everything starts with the law, and this is the point that has to be addressed; everything else

is just goodwill to do something, but in the end, it is about the law, and the law is not clear”. It appears

evident that any kind of reform of the CICRs should necessarily pass through national legislation

reforms, to avoid local distortions of the mandate. The CICRs find themselves embroiled in a

dilemma between the need for more precise rules and the one to ensure local ownership. Odendaal &

Olivier maintain that the ideal situation to ensure local ownership lie in a national mandate providing

minimum guidelines, to leave space for community leaders to establish locally tailored structures and

processes. However, such flexibility towards resident mandates represented a root problem of the

CICRs dysfunctionality, de facto obstructing their prerogatives. Certainly, a balance should be sought

between these two key necessities. CSOs and NGOs such as ZELS and the CDI worked extensively

on this issue, seeking to establish more precise guidelines.285 However, this did not encounter much

success due to the scarce commitment of policymakers.286

5.3 TRANSPARENCY, ACCESSIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION

Giessmann emphasizes the elements of transparency, accessibility, and participation in designing

effective I4P, asserting that “I4P, if based on these indicators, can provide a space for sustainable

collaborative engagement”.287 The same concepts can be traced throughout the documents and

literature about the CICRs, as essential aims of the decentralization process. For instance, the

principle of Equitable Representation was given vital importance by the OFA, following which equal

treatment should have been fully ensured in the post-2001 MK, particularly towards the employment

in the public sector.288 Moreover, the establishment of the CICRs would entail more transparency

285 For example, see: Ivana Tomovska & Damir Neziri, “Committees for Inter-Community Relations: Policy Brief”,

CDI, November 2011 (available at https://irz.org.mk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/256_policy-brief-ENG-web.pdf);

ZELS, Практичен прирачник за работа на КОМЗ, ZELS, July 2009 (available at

http://www.zels.org.mk/Upload/Content/Documents/Izdanija/Publikacii/MK/02prak%20vodic%20MAK%20za%20we

b%20celosno.pdf). 286 United Nations Programme to Enhance Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Collaboration, supra note 220, 41-42. 287 Giessmann, supra note 15, 15. 288 CDI & ZELS, supra note 264, 6.

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towards the work of the Municipal authorities,289 and these organs should have “act[ed] as an

instrument for enabling direct citizen participation within the decision-making process”.290 On paper,

the CICRs would thus be expected to: ensure transparent processes of members selection, decision-

making, and internal organization; guarantee equitable representation and free accessibility to all

citizens in the election of ethnic representatives; engage, both directly and indirectly, the ethnic

communities in a participated way of doing. Contrary to expectations, research findings present a

negative picture of these aspects.

The transparency definition291 employed is underpinned by the logic that “information empowers

citizens to hold public officials accountable”, leading to more responsive, effective, and legitimate

governance.292 In this light, transparency would entail enhanced accountability on the work of the

CICRs, and legitimacy of action in the eyes of the population, as this could be fully informed about

elective as well as decision-making processes. Evidence shows that transparency is ensured only to

some extent. On the one hand, the CICRs decision-making process seems relatively transparent, even

if some participants recognized that Municipal authorities are unable to provide timely and up-to-date

information to the public. For instance, CID Member 2 declared that authorities should be swifter to

publish information about the dates and places of CICRs meeting, as well as improve online

dissemination of information (e.g. using Social Networks). On the other hand, CICRs display

substantial transparency gaps both in the process of election of members, as well as regarding their

internal rules of procedure and mandate specificities. This information should be outlined within the

relevant documents (Statute, Rules of Procedure) made available by the Municipalities. As a matter

of fact, this rarely happens, and CICRs members’ election is majorly left to the discretion of political

authorities without a transparent process. Only a limited number of Municipalities set defined criteria

for the election of CICRs representatives. Although the findings outline a lack of visibility of the

CICRs, individuating a strong ‘disconnection’ between the Commissions and community segments,

the transparency gaps emerged from the research are likely to stir up distrust and lack of recognition

towards the constituents of the CICRs, since no transparent procedures are set in place for their

appointment. Likewise, since participants could not mention any whistleblowing case, additionally

289 Sreten Koceski, “Committees for Inter-com- munity Relations - all want to know for the Committees for Inter-

community Relations - experiences and recommendations”, CDI, November 2011 (available at

https://www.nvosorabotka.gov.mk/sites/default/files/komz.pdf), 120. 290 Koceski, supra note 208, 5. 291 Bauhr & Grimes, supra note 234, 5. 292 Stephen Kosack & Archon Fung, “Does Transparency Improve Governance?”, Annual Review of Political Science,

Vol. 17 (2014), 66.

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dismissing the possibility that any wrongdoing could externally emerge, transparency is also not

secured in case of misconducting or power abuses.

Accessibility was considered a priority of the MK decentralization process, which aimed to bring

governance closer to the citizens293 to enhance institutional responsiveness and fair representation.

The responsiveness of LPCs is also listed by Giessmann as a crucial factor for the success of local

I4P.294 Through the definition of accessibility employed for the research purposes, the author sought

to assess whether discriminatory barriers existed, excluding citizens from freely and openly running

for a seat within the CICRs. Moreover, the use of the accessibility criteria was valuable to assess the

CICRs responsiveness to community needs. Findings bring up issues regarding the first strand.

Political affiliation and, to some extent, ethnicity emerge as substantial obstacles to the unfettered

access to CICRs membership. Contrary to participants’ perceptions, secondary data denote the

disrespect of the principle of equitable representation in several Municipalities, where some minority

groups do not benefit from equal representation within the respective CICR.295 Extension of the

highly politicized context of MK, political affiliation stands as a selective entry barrier to access the

CICRs, undermining the equity and fairness of CICRs membership. As a consequence, the

recognition of the CICRs might result undermined by the degree of politicization around members

selection. As the UNDP reported: “the political factor leads to a low-capacity within the government

to deliver services, and equitably and efficiently represent citizens’ interests”.296 Furthermore,

citizens were reported to be unprovided of mechanisms to swiftly report issues directly to the CICRs.

This accessibility gap highlights once again the creation of a disconnection between the CICRs and

the communities they should supposedly represent; they do not appear in any way rooted and linked

with the grassroots basis of local communities.

Lastly, participation is recognized as a fundamental element for ensuring both effective governance

and effectiveness of local top-down I4P. Following the OSCE, “engaging citizens in local governance

improves accountability and the ability of local authorities to solve problems and creates more

inclusive and cohesive communities”.297 Likewise, Giessmann underlines that for LPCs to be

functional, “vibrant and active civil society participation is [..] required”.298 Research findings

293 Koceski, supra note 208, 5. 294 Giessmann, supra note 15, 42. 295 As prescribed by the law: “The Commission from paragraph 1 of this Article shall be composed of an equal number

of representatives of each community represented in the municipality”, see: Law on Local Self-Governance, supra note

191, Article 55. 296 United Nations Programme to Enhance Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Collaboration, supra note 220, 21. 297 OSCE Mission to Skopje, supra note 248, 71. 298 Giessmann, supra note 15, 40.

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provided a negative overview of the participatory opportunities of citizens vis-à-vis the CICRs.

Theoretically, representatives should be selected by their respective communities, and then appointed

by Municipal authorities. However, this happened in very few instances, with CICRs members

nomination being an exclusive prerogative of politicians. In some cases, communities provide a list

of candidates to the Municipality, which, however, can decide whether or not to take into

consideration the suggestions. If citizens are de facto excluded from participating in the election of

their representatives, they fail in including their own communities at the negotiation tables.

Supposedly, elected officials should “engage in regular communication with the citizens to learn of

their needs and inform them on the work of the Municipality”.299 However, such a participatory

element is left on paper, and no consultation takes place between CICRs members and the

communities they represent. Overall, citizens look completely devoid of participatory mechanisms

through which to engage with the CICRs. The research did not detect formal mechanisms to consult

other civil society actors such as NGOs. The literature on local I4P stresses that “local peacebuilding

should be owned and managed as much as possible by local communities themselves”.300 Research

findings show that the principle is not much contemplated in the CICRs case study, and local

communities are excluded from both direct and indirect forms of participation.

5.4 ANSWER TO THE RESEARCH QUESTION

In the attempt to respond to the Research Question, three core sub-issues were identified and

discussed. Findings from the interviews supplemented by secondary data resulted in a comprehensive

negative picture on the operativity of the CICRs as I4P at the local level, which are certainly not

living up to their expectations. Based on the research results, it is concluded that the initial hypothesis

under which the I4P would be dysfunctional and failing to undertake their core prerogatives is valid

under current conditions. A number of important findings were made. The results indicate that the

CICRs were never able to play a decisive role as institutionalized fora devoted to joint problem

solving and dialogue among ethnic communities, thus contributing to the advancement of inter-ethnic

relations at the Municipal level in any substantial way. The research found out how the CICRs have

been sidelined and bypassed by political authorities, playing a certain role in forwarding

recommendations or acting first-hand to solve inter-ethnic tensions in infrequent occasions.

The findings demonstrate that the disregard shown by political authorities and subsequent

dysfunctionality could be responsible for the gap of visibility of these organs, which are widely

299 Koceski, supra ntoe 208, 5. 300 Ondendaal, supra note 210, 21.

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unknown to the broad Municipal population. The lack of public awareness could also be connected

to the absence of participatory channels through which local communities can engage with the

members as well as with the internal decision-making process of the CICRs. In this way, ethnic

communities are majorly marginalized with respect to the life and work of the CICRs. Political

influence is visible at different levels, tempering core prerogatives of the CICRs. The politicization

of CICRs membership hindered especially the insurance of transparency, equal accessibility and local

communities’ participation in the election of CICRs members. Local ownership was dismissed, and

political dynamics took over the necessities to make of the CICRs “non-threatening space[s] where

communities search for inclusive, mutually beneficial options to their problems”.301

Lastly, the author notices the scarce interest demonstrated by political authorities in rendering these

bodies functional and determinant for grassroots peacebuilding. The fact that Municipal authorities

do not usually devote neither financial nor technical and administrative resources to support the work

of the CICRs emerges as a significant obstacle to their material functioning. CICRs members find

themselves lacking means, technical preparation, and compensation for their commitment. Moreover,

Municipal authorities tend to leave undetermined the legislative framework concerning the

functioning of the CICRs, in order to dispose of more room for maneuver to control them.

The author’s overall impression is that salient issues surging between ethnic communities are

addressed directly by Municipal political representatives and that the CICRs are relegated to play an

insignificant role in fostering inter-ethnic dialogue.

5.5 POLICY IMPLICATION - RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE

IMPROVEMENT

Lastly, some recommendations are advanced, aimed to overcome the shortcomings individuated by

the research results. These are elaborated drawing from both the literature on I4P and the

conversations carried out with research participants. The recommendations want to have policy

implications, being addressed to local and national policymakers as well as to NGOs, CSOs, and

IGOs engaged in MK. Likewise, these provide useful guidance towards the broader design of

effective I4P at the local level, drawing upon the challenges individuated within the CICRs case

study.

301 Odendaal & Olivier, supra note 281, 5.

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• Multi-stakeholders Composition: van Tongeren highlights how LPCs should manage to strike

a balance between “independence and a government-steered body.”302 Odendaal suggests

that: “LPC needs to be composed of local organizations or movements relevant to the local

peace process, and LPC membership needs to be decided by local people”. Currently, the

CICRs are highly politicized bodies, where members are political exponents. For real

independence, CICRs composition must be reformed. Political authorities should not be

excluded from the Councils, but their direct presence should be reduced, just like their

capacity to appoint CICRs members. This latter duty should mostly rely on local communities

through, for example, local elections. For instance, the participatory election of

representatives is a feature of the Councils of National Minorities in Croatia.303 To become as

inclusive and responsive as possible, the membership could be extended,304 welcoming on

voluntary basis stakeholders from the civil society, such as representatives of society sectors

(religious, business, gender, cultural) and NGOs/CSOs. In this way, formal actions of the

CICRs could be more responsive and aware of different needs and interests, counting on more

extensive expertise, and coordinating with initiatives from the informal sector.305

• Resorting to Insider Partials & Professional Facilitators: Odendaal & Olivier suggest that

“skilled facilitation capacity is [..] necessary for the successful functioning of LPCs”.306 The

literature on LPCs307 recognizes the cruciality of disposing of members (usually from civil

society) who are trusted by the community and have a good knowledge of mediation skills, to

act as a middle ground during sessions. Professional external facilitators could also assist the

work of the CICRs to stimulate constructive attitudes among the parties, may the insider

partials lack the emotional distances to mediate their own conflicts.308 If CICRs membership

was reformed and extended, it could become beneficial to include these figures.

• Rotating Leadership Positions or Resorting to Middle Ground Actors: parties should be

prevented from exploiting leadership positions (e.g. President) to dominate on the others.309

302 van Tongeren, supra note 102, 106. 303 Hina,”Danas se održavaju manjinski izbori, 250 tisuća ljudi može izaći”, VL, May 2019 (available at

https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/danas-se-odrzavaju-manjinski-izbori-250-tisuca-ljudi-moze-izaci-1317179). 304 For instance, in the case of the LPCs in South Africa, any relevant civil society organization could freely apply for

membership inside the Councils. See: Odendaal, supra note 210, 19. 305 Ibid, 20. 306 Ibid, 24. 307 See for example: Odendaal, supra note 220, 19; Giessmann, supra note 15, 44; Odendaal & Olivier, supra note 281,

15. 308 Odendaal & Olivier, supra note 281, 5. 309 Ibid, 15.

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A recommendation made by Odendaal & Olivier is to rotate the position of leadership

frequently or to appoint ‘insider-partials’ from the civil society to cover these positions.310

LPCs following this principle were established both in Nepal and Northern Ireland.311

• Technical Support: research results outline that CICRs members are unprovided with

technical skills to fulfill their duties effectively. However, capacity building is recognized as

a milestone for setting I4P.312 This should not exclusively focus on technical capacities (e.g.

data collection, external communication, etc.); rather, it should also contemplate

peacebuilding and expertise.313 NGOs can play a huge role in this domain. For instance, within

the Nepal peace process, NGOs successfully provided peacebuilding training to LPCs.314

• Financial Support: practical experiences demonstrated that no LPCs ever worked in a

sustained way without financial support.315 Research findings underline that CICRs members

having to work voluntarily represents a major issue. Thus, the CICRs should dispose of a

fixed budget provided by the Government (since Municipalities usually do not have many

resources) and used to pay the salary of CICRs core members, as well as to fund the actions

and activities of the bodies. A successful example of LPCs in this respect can be drawn by the

South Africa experience, where sustained funding from the central Government covered the

expenses of LPCs activities and functioning.316 The budget should be ensured with full

transparency not to foster distrust among citizens.

• Legislative Clarity of Mandate: the CICRs need to strike a balance between having a flexible

mandate for local ownership (as the situation currently is), and imposing limitations to refrain

political authorities from manipulating it at their advantage. It is a hard balance to achieve in

practice317 since a decisive change should pass through a reform of the LLSG. However, civil

society actors such as ZELS and the CDI have worked extensively on this issue and forwarded

proposals.318 Emphasis should be put on the requirements of specificity and exhaustiveness

310 Ibid. 311 Ibid, 21. 312 Ibid, 16. 313Ibid, 24. 314 Odendaal, supra note 210, 57. 315 Ibid, 23. 316 Ibid, 38. 317 Ibid, 4. 318 See: Tomovska & Neziri, ZELS, supra note 285.

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in the Statutes and Rulebooks governing the functioning of the CICRs, with some core

information that should be specified (e.g. criteria for members election).

• More strength but no “teeth”: CICRs stance vis-a-vis political authorities must be strengthened

to achieve improved accountability. For instance, a reform of the legislation should impose

the obligation to consult these bodies for any decision having repercussions on intern-ethnic

relations. However, it is crucial that the CICRs maintain their advisory role and do not develop

“enforcing” powers, which could be detrimental to their legitimacy.319

• Online forms to strengthen responsiveness: the CICRs demonstrates a lack of formal

mechanisms through which issues can be reported swiftly by citizens. A valid proposal entails

creating a digitalized complaints system, through which the CICRs can be addressed directly

via online forms.

• Sponsor the CICRs to improve visibility: the CICRs lack of visibility among the population.

Municipal authorities, civil society actors, and the CICRs themselves should channel efforts

to promote awareness-raising campaigns and activities to make these bodies more widely

known.

• Peace Architecture: Odendaal confers paramount importance to connect local I4P with

national bodies capable of providing advisory capacities and facilitating access to wider

resources.320 In Sierra Leone, when LPCs were experiencing some issues, they could receive

political backup and advice from the National Committee.321 In MK, it is imperative to

establish similar synergies among the CICRs and the central Committee. This could massively

facilitate the coordination of local efforts and improve inter-ethnic relations on a national

scale.

319 They risk to become “an arena for contesting power”. See: Odendaal & Olivier, supra note 281, 5. 320 Odendaal, supra note 210, 15. 321 Ibid.

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6) CONCLUSION

War and conflict are recurrent phenomena in our societies. The way we deal with them marks the

odds of their recurrence. The International Community has often struggled in dealing effectively with

post-conflict scenarios, demonstrating evident shortcomings in building the foundations of

sustainable peace in war-shattered countries. Part of this failure relates to the compartmentalized

operationalization of the idea of peacebuilding and the prioritization of the objectives of statebuilding

at the expense of the focus on the grassroots foundations of peace. However, peacebuilding

demonstrated the need to coherently address both ambits and in a coordinated manner to pave the

way to enduring peace. Moreover, this latter showed the need to be continuously nurtured, especially

in violently divided societies, rather than being considered a short-term ended process. In the wake

of these necessities, the experimentation of I4P in conflicting countries such as Kenya, Ghana, and

South Africa produced encouraging results, providing valuable food for thoughts in the domain of

peace studies. The core of this innovative approach is the consideration that societies need to embed

peace within standing conflict transformation structures and networks. Despite their potential, the

theory and practical experiences of I4P remain under-researched and often overlooked by

international actors engaged in post-conflict settings.

In this light, this dissertation was inspired by the innovativeness of the I4P theory and aimed to add

up empirical perspectives in this domain. The author considered necessary to focus on I4P acting at

the grassroots since this strand of peacebuilding is usually less considered by scholars and major

international actors (e.g. UN). These grounds unfolded the interest for a comprehensive analysis of

the experience of local I4P in MK. More specifically, the research investigated in-depth the condition

of the CICRs, exploring their capacity to live up to their expectations as effective I4P. Based on the

triangulation of the data collected, it is possible to conclude that the CICRs are majorly dysfunctional

and cannot adequately fulfill the expectations of their mandate. These were established at the

Municipal level to act as institutionalized platforms to foster dialogue and joint problem-solving

among ethnic communities, thus improving the state of inter-ethnic relations at the grassroots of the

North Macedonian society. However, research results clearly indicate that their contribution to the

improvement of inter-ethnic relations in the Municipalities where they were established was minimal,

accounting for a sporadic activity only during the first years of their establishment. The findings

outline that the CICRs operativity was tampered by an extreme disregard of political authorities, and

an excessive politicization of their internal dynamics. These elements contributed to undermining

several aspects that are considered crucial for the effectiveness of these types of I4P, such as

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independence, local ownership, and material support to their functioning. In turn, the absence of these

fundamental aspects detrimentally reflected in terms of transparency, accessibility, and participation

of the local communities to the work of the CICRs. The CICRs and the communities they are called

to represent appear rather far and disconnected. Currently, the underlined challenges cripple the

functioning of these bodies, impeding the fulfillment of their expectations as I4P aimed to foster inter-

ethnic cooperation at the local level. In this respect, the words of van Tongeren resound prophetical:

“governments that do not consider the wisdom of organizing an inclusive and participatory peace

structure, may do so at their peril”.322

It is fair to say that until political authorities show little interest in making of the CICRs proactive

peacebuilding devices, the current shortcomings will endure. Significant reforms to the composition

and prerogatives of the CICRs will have to necessarily pass through the hands of the national

legislators to prevent the Councils from falling prey to local politicizing dynamics. It may sound

harsh, but without obligations coming from the law, Municipal authorities are likely to keep sidelining

the work of these organs. MK presents a situation where the ghosts of conflict still hover; the hope is

that national policymakers will take action to avoid another 2001-scenario. In this light, enhancing

the functioning of CICRs can undoubtedly represent a significant asset.

6.1. AVENUES FOR RESEARCH

The research findings pave the way for further research opportunities. For instance, further inquiry

could concern the impact of external support (NGOs, OSCE) on the functionality of the CICRs, and

examine whether this represented a determinant factor for greater effectiveness of the CICRs in the

first years after their establishment. Certainly, MK does not pose a typical example of a highly divided

society.323 Additional research could instead focus on gauging the effectiveness of I4P in violently

fragmented societies. Nigerian LPCs stand out as under-researched examples in this respect.

Furthermore, the literature on I4P could benefit from a better understanding of how to improve I4P

performance by building upon indigenous capacities for peacemaking and peacebuilding. For

instance, the research individuated the existence of Local Prevention Councils in MK as traditional

structures for conflict transformation, gathering the main community stakeholders to discuss

incidents among ethnic groups. It is of utmost importance to study how such traditional structures

322 Van Tongeren, supra note 102, 107. 323 For instance, Osaghae proposes an interesting categorization of ‘divided societies’. North Macedonia could account

as a ‘divided’ society also due to the fact that the involvement of the civilian population has been minimal in the 2001

conflict. See: Eghosa E. Osaghae, The Role and Function of Research in Divided Societies, in: Marie Smyth & Gillian

Robinson (eds.), Researching Violently Divided Societies: Ethical & Methodological Issues, 2001, 16-17.

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can be linked to the build-up of top-down I4P to maximize their effectiveness, and how the role of

traditional leaders could be integrated within such structures. Ultimately, the indicators employed by

the present research require improved understanding. The debate could benefit from enhanced

methodological precision in framing these criteria for measurement purposes. Besides, researchers

could deepen their study comparing different peacebuilding experiences to better frame their degree

of conceptual validity to assess the performance of I4P. Overall, the studies in the I4P domain have

so far mainly drawn upon the recompilation of existing experiences. However, there is a clear need

to set up detailed theories and methodologies to acquire a more robust standing within peace studies.

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• Campbell, Susanna, & Jenny H. Peterson, Statebuilding, in: Roger Mac Ginty (ed.),

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• Lederach, John Paul, Just Peace – The Challenge of the 21st Century, in: European Centre

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existence, 2001, 209-234

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• Doyle, Michael & Nicholas Sambanis, “International Peacebuilding: A Theoretical and

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• Odendaal, Andries, “The Political Legitimacy of National Peace Committees”, Journal of

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• Law on Local Self-Government, January 2002 (available at

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• Spasovska, Elena, The Role of Women’s Non-Government Organisations in Building Peace

in the Republic of Macedonia, 2017 (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation)

• State Statistical Office, Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Macedonia, 2016 (available

at http://www.stat.gov.mk/Publikacii/PDFSG2016/03-Naselenie-Population.pdf)

• UNDP, Issue Brief: Infrastructures for Peace, 2013 (available at

https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/crisis-prevention-and-

recovery/issue-brief--infrastructure-for-peace.html)

• United States of America, The National Security Strategy of the United States of America,

2002 (available at https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/63562.pdf)

Annex A – Interviews Questionnaire

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1) I would like to hear your thought on whether the institution of the CICRs has improved the status

of inter-ethnic relations between the Albanian and Macedonian ethnic groups?

• If yes, in which way the CICRs contributed?

• If no, why do you think?

2) In your view and experience, which do you think is the major problem or obstacle to an effective

functioning of the CICRs?

• What would you consider another key problem or obstacle, second

for relevance?

• Why do you consider these two elements so relevant?

3) Defining ‘transparency’ as the ability for community members (citizens) to access information

relevant to evaluating CICRs work and functioning, I would like to hear your thoughts on the level

of transparency of the CICRs.

• Are the criteria for selecting CICRs members made public and easy to

access for anybody?

• Is the mandate of the CICRs public and easy to access for anybody?

• What about the transcripts of the CICRs’ discussion and/or voting

sessions, are these open and made public?

• What instead for the decisions taken by the CICRs, to which extent are

these published and visible to the larger public?

• I would like to hear from you if there are risks of having negative

consequences for CICRs members reporting abuses of power or other

internal wrongdoings (e.g. to the media)?

• In your opinion, which practical ways are best to improve all the

above?

4) Defining ‘accessibility’ as the possibility for community members, regardless of their ethnicity and

language, to access to the CICRs, both as members and to report a certain issue, I would like to hear

your thoughts on to which extent does accessibility, under these two aspects, exist?

• In your view, does any citizen have potentially the possibility to run

for a seat of the CICRs’ assemblies?

• To which extent do you think that ethnicity affects the degree of

accessibility, especially for what concerns the election of community

members to the CICRs assembly?

• Is there any foreseen mechanism through which normal citizens can

report an issue happening into the community to the CICRs?

• In your opinion, there exist practical ways through which all the

above could be improved?

5) Defining ‘participation’ as the capacity of community members to take part in the decision-making

process of the CICRs, I would like to hear your thoughts on the level of participation of the CICRs?

• To which extent the citizens are able to participate in the selection

procedure of the CICRs members in their respective Municipalities?

• Concerning the internal decision-making process of the CICRs, how

much citizens and through which channels can participate in this

process?

• In your opinion, in which ways could participation be enhanced?

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6) Finally, I would like to know from you whether an effective institution of the CICRs would benefit

the improvement of inter-ethnic relations in the Municipalities, and therefore peacebuilding?

• Please, expand a bit further the reasons and why you think an effective

operativity of the CICRs have the potential to foster inter-ethnic

relations.

• In your view, on which areas the CICRs’ mandate should focus more?

Annex B – Informed Consent Form

Information about personal data in the Dissertation Research

In connection with the research on the operativity of the Commissions for Inter-Community Relations

in North Macedonia within the framework of the final dissertation for the Master of Social Sciences

in International Security and Law at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU). The student Matteo

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Piovacari will collect personal data of participants in the research. The student and SDU are jointly

responsible for protection of the personal data. Participation is voluntary. Data collection is done

through direct interviews or written online correspondence.

Purpose of processing information for the dissertation

The research work for the final dissertation is keen to obtain subjective data from experts on the work

of the Commissions in order to assess the current status and possible challenges to the effective

functioning of the same bodies. The student will seek to collect and analyze rich qualitative data on

what key stakeholders consider the main challenges and flaws of the structure and work of the

Commissions, and how such challenges could be overcome. Therefore, the investigation aims at

shedding light on current shortcomings or successes of the Commissions, with the purpose of

proposing feasible solutions for improvement.

SDU will process the following personal data of participants: Name, Surname, Job title &

Organization Affiliation, Municipality of work, Email.

However complete anonymity in terms of identity will be adopted when publishing the results, and

further specifications in matter of privacy can be discussed directly with the student.

How SDU will use your personal data

Your personal data will be used confidentially – in compliance with the applicable law. Your

personal data will only be used for research and publication of research results. SDU will ensure

that your personal data will be securely stored and will only be available to the student conducting

the research. Your personal data will be stored until the dissertation process is finalized and will be

anonymized or deleted on 30 October 2020 at the latest.

Join the research

When personal data is processed (collected, used etc.) for a research project, the Danish Data

Protection Act includes a special clause, that makes it possible to collect, use etc. personal data for

research and statistical purposes (§ 10 in the Danish Data Protection and Article 6(1)(e) in the

General Data Protection Regulation).

This special clause entitles SDU to use your personal data for research and statistical purposes

without your consent, but also prohibits any other use of your personal data. Therefore, there is no

risk that your personal data will be used for any other purpose than research. Furthermore, your

personal data will not be published in scientific journals without prior authorization from the

Danish Data Protection Agency.

Therefore, you shall decide if you wish to participate in this research so that SDU can use your

personal data. If you want to participate, SDU will collect the above-mentioned personal data and

use them for the research purposes. If you no longer wish to participate in the research project, you

can any time contact the student. SDU will cease to collect any new personal data about you.

However, SDU will continue to use etc. any personal data collected before your withdrawal.

Further information

If you have any further questions about the research you can always contact the Researcher

Appointee, Matteo Piovacari:

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Phone: +39 3938044820

Email: matteo.piovacari@gmail.com

If you have any questions about data protection and your rights as a data subject, you can always

contact SDU data protection officer, Simon Kamber:

Email: dpo@sdu.dk

If you want to lodge a complaint about SDU’s processing of personal data, you can always contact

the Danish Data Protection Agency on www.datatilsynet.dk